An interesting point Jon. I'm not familiar with the area or conditions under which the local ranchers have utilised the land so can't comment directly. However the equivalent in the UK was the vast tracks of private grouse moors, and the long struggle for public access to these is well documented, not the least by Ewan MacColl's "Manchester Rambler".

Here in NZ there also appears to be lot of conflict between farmers, recreational land users of varying types, and conservationists. It seems to me that unless you have a very specific purpose such as preserving a unique habitat, which if the land had been used for farming is most unlikely, the only sensible approach is shared use, requiring common sense and tolerance on all sides (its very rarely a two sided question). Certainly the farmers may have to modify their techniques and point of view about the interaction of people and stock, and recreational users may have to accept some restrictions on where and when they go, but both parties gain from the understanding. As a concrete example of how this works I would cite my experience in the UK where sheep and cattle are grazed on open moorland and upland, and have become completely inured to the presence of people and dogs, unlike in NZ where sheep will run themselves into trouble at the sight of a dog or person, and farmers perpetuate the problem by seeking to keep recreational users from their land . Similarly when in the 60's there was an outbreak of foot and mouth in the Lake District, recreational users voluntarily refrained from using the fells until the outbreak was over.

Pete M