Recreational Access to Privately Owned Rural Land: A Case Study in Canterbury Hill Country, New Zealand

There is public concern that private ownership restricts public access to land for such uses as recreation and amenity value. There is little systematically collected information about the extent of unfavourable attitudes to public access in New Zealand. This case study analyses the responses of 94 farmers/foresters to a request to operate a series of large‐scale sporting events that traversed privately owned rural land. Issues of concern to landowners included visitor health and safety, disturbance to farm or forest management, and spread of disease. Despite these concerns 90 percent of the landowners who were approached allowed access to their land for recreation. An approach for handling possible landowner requests to charge for access for large‐scale events is suggested.