Farmers are pointing to wilding vegetation as fuel for the devastating fire that destroyed almost half of the lakeside village.
Federated Farmers High Country Committee chairman Rob Stokes says closing up land for national parks means the ground is not grazed by sheep and cattle and tussocks and grass are left to grow wild.
But plant ecologist Professor David Kelly, from the University of Canterbury, says stopping grazing is an essential part of a long-term management plan for conservation department reserves.
He speaks to Susie Ferguson.
