The long-scheduled mediation talks between the owners of Sticky Forest and the Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) have been cancelled and the case will now go to the Environment Court, with formal hearings unlikely to take place before next February.

Sticky Forest is an area of approximately 50 hectares of forested land in Wānaka between the Clutha River outlet and the Kirimoko residential subdivision.

The forest is held by the Crown for around 1,800 descendants of 57 original Maori grantees who were given the land under the South Island Landless Natives Act as substitute land for settlement redress after they lost ownership of the Hāwea-Wānaka block known as ‘The Neck’.  

Over time a huge number of mountain biking and walking tracks have been formed on Sticky Forest, which are now used regularly by members of the public and maintained by local groups. 

The mediation was sparked after one of the grantee’s descendants, the late Mike Beresford (acting as an individual not as a representative of the group), sought to have about 20 hectares of the forest rezoned to allow for residential development.

After his submission was rejected by the QLDC on the advice of independent commissioners, the decision was appealed to the Environment Court, which requested the owners’ group and the QLDC enter mediation to resolve the issue.

QLDC councillor Quentin Smith confirmed that the mediation has been cancelled, but said he could not comment further as the matter was before the Environment Court.

Bike advocacy group Bike Wānaka wants Sticky Forest to become a community asset. 

Spokesperson Simon Telfer told the Wānaka App this week that the “interim list of owners” of the land has grown to around 1,800 individuals - an increase of 600 since last year.

“There is currently no agreed timeframe for the list to be finalised by the Māori Land Court and therefore no forum for the full successor group to discuss the land,” he said.

He said Bike Wānaka is “looking forward to the beneficiaries being agreed so we can begin a korero with all the land owners, not just a couple of them”. 

“We want to listen to what the whenua means to the wider group and hopefully have an opportunity to share how deep a connection many people in the Wānaka community have to the land and forest”.

The issues around Sticky Forest have been described by independent commissioners as a “conundrum provided by the unique set of circumstances surrounding this land”.

The QLDC was approached for comment.