Glenlee Run, located in Marlborough on the north side of the Awatere River, is currently undergoing tenure review. The land is under a renewable occupation licence, not a pastoral lease; the review is being undertaken under Part 3 of the Crown Pastoral Land Act. All relevant documents are available on the LINZ website.

The 5,787 hectare Crown land parcel is mostly steep and with naturally low fertility. Its management has been conservative and its natural values, from single species to large-scale systems and landscape qualities, are largely intact. Adjoining public conservation land includes the Ferny Gair Conservation Area to the north, the Big Bolton Conservation Area to the east, and the Glazebrook Conservation Area to the west. A number of legal roads, in many cases not yet formed, provide access to Glenlee.

The advertised proposal is to retain all land shaded in red in the map above in full Crown Ownership (CA1 to CA6), to freehold the parcel of land shaded green (FH1) and to dispose of the land shaded blue under a Special Lease (SL1).

FMC supports most of the proposal. However, we would like to see SL1 become public conservation land due to its robust significant inherent values and its potential for tramping, climbing, and hunting. We would also like to see a quid pro quo (possibly involving the ‘gridiron’ section, part of existing Glenlee freehold land to the east) for FH1.

A copy of FMC’s submission is available here.