The landscapes of the South Island high country are valued by a diverse range of interests. More recently, high country environments have become the setting for a number of conflicts contested by different values, at different spatial scales. This thesis examines the underlying causes for these conflicts.

For many New Zealanders, high country environments arouse a range of symbolic images which are regarded as icons of nationhood. A variety of groups claim a role in the management of high country landscapes based from a symbolic attachment to land.

The high country has historically been valued as a landscape from which to derive material gain, 'particularly from pastoral farming. The emergence of a more diverse range of values for high country landscapes have become apparent amidst a changing political economic, environmental and cultural context. There have been growing concerns that traditional high country commercial land uses are economically and environmentally unsustainable. In a postmodern era, a range of commercial and non-commercial land uses have developed in the high country which have led to incompatible and conflicting values. It is from within this context that a process of reform has been developed to try and reconcile these differences.

An examination of some key issues at the local scale provides some important insights for an understanding of high country conflicts. In particular, the Upper Waimakariri and Upper Rak:aia Basins are focused upon to investigate the· cont1icts arising from Ngai Tahu attempts to regain a role in the management of high country landscapes, issues of foreign ownership, and the conflicts between production and preservation.

Just as there is no one high country, there is no single solution to the conflicts which have developed. Progress can be made however, by forging a number of locally based resolutions which recognise the multiplicity of interests for which high country landscapes are valued.