NATIONAL PARKS EXTENSION OF RESERVES TO SEASHORES ADVOCATED

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31079, 7 June 1966, Page 12

NATIONAL PARKS EXTENSION OF RESERVES TO SEASHORES ADVOCATED

This article was presented by

Dr. R. H. LOCKER

of Hamilton a* a paper at ■ mealing of

the Nature Protection Council In Wellington lhi> month. The area of our National Parks has now reached one fifteenth of our total land area. This is admirable by any standards and great credit is due to those whose foresight has brought it about. However, on studying a map of the parks two facts become rather obvious.

First, the distribution of area is heavily weighted towards the south whereas population is weighted in the opposite direction. There are very good geographical reasons for this distribution, but it does mean that most of the parks are inaccessible to a large portion of the population for anything but the occasional extended holiday.

Secondly the parks are all essentially mountain wilderness parks. Only two have coastlines, and only one of these, Abel Tasman, is readily accessible.

It is my belief that there is an urgent need to enlarge the scope of our National Parks by including in the system National Seashores. For the great majority of New Zealanders, summer holidays mean the beach rather than the mountains, so that the preservation of our coastlines would seem at least as important from a recreational point of view as that of our mountains. Just as North Islanders look forward eagerly to the occasional holiday among the mountains and lakes of the south, so South Islanders should be able to look forward to free access to the gentler charms of the pohutukawa coasts. Coastlines Without in any way wishing to detract from the value of our present parks which I love and enjoy, I wish to suggest that a few acres of coastline near a large centre of population may be even more valuable in terms of man-hours of pleasure than thousands of acres in a remote area. The great merit of the former is that they can be used with only a day or a weekend to spare.

Recently I returned from a short summer stay in Baltimore. I was rather dismayed to find a very large city set at the head of Chesapeake Bay with its pleasant indented coastline, but having almost no public access to the Bay. In all directions private ownership blocks access to what should be a great public asset. This is not so everywhere in the United States and already Americans are seeing the need to extend their very wonderful National Parks system to the seashores. The Kennedy National Seashore on Cape Cod is the latest example and Cape Hatteras another. The choicest coastline tn New Zealand, for pleasure rather than sheer grandeur is undoubtedly the East Coast of the Auckland Province, from North Cape to East Cape. This is also the part of New Zealand that is devoid of National Parks. Within a few hours driving of Auckland the -appalling acceleration of seaside subdivision is swallowing the choice beaches of the Hauraki "Gulf. The improvement of roading on the Coromandel Peninsula has initiated the same process there. The Auckland Regional Authority has made a very creditable beginning in acquiring Long Bay and the Wenderholm Estate. The latter with its beautiful beach and enclosing headlands, the Puhoi estuary and magnificent pohutukawas is a gem. I would like to see this area extended to include the Mahurangi Heads, thus making a seashore within 40 miles of Auckland, unrivalled even by the Bay of Islands. The great pohutukawa groves north of Colville and the beautiful bays from Port Jackson down to Whangapoua could, together with the massif of Moehau itself form a wonderful new Moehau National Park. Parts of the Bay of Islands, the Hokianga and the Marlborough Sounds deserve consideration. The examples quoted are those 1 know personally. There are doubtless many other suitable coasts in both islands.

A New Concept Most seaside land is of course farmed and owes much of its charm to the blend of pasture with isolated trees or groves on cliffs and in gullies. If the idea of National Seashores was to be acted upon a new concept of a National Park would be required. Nature should not be allowed to take over but farming should continue and in some cases be extended. Ronald Vine w.ote recently in the “Auckland Star” (Jan. 31, 1966) on the purchase by the Crown of Te Paki Station, 42,000 acres including Cape Reinga. He made some very similar suggestions for this area and others like it: “it should become something that has never been attempted in this country—a National Park in which is combined to a carefully and expertly thought-out recipe, a blend of scenic botanic and camping reserves with areas of thoroughly efficient pastoral farming and forestry. We can live on this land, play on it and earn a living from it without despoiling it.” Te Paki is Crown land, whereas most of the areas I mention are not. However there seems no need to disturb existing land tenure.

I propose that seashore areas of great merit should be declared National Seashores and that the necessary legislation should be considered without delay. This would mean:

(1) That subdivision for cottages be prohibited or be permitted only in special zones back from the shore. (This would be no greater

infringement of personal liberty than that already imposed by urban planning). In some places of special beauty (for example where there are narrow penisulas with views on either side from ridge

road) subdivision should not be permitted at all. (2) That the land remain in the hands of its present owners who should continue to farm it as they wish, with the condition that existing stands of bush, cliff vegetation,-or single trees should not be touched without permission of the park authority. (It has long been illegal for an owner to cut down a tree, without permission, in England). The authority should provide and maintain fences to protect bush where necessary from stock. (3) Should the land come upon the market it should first be offered to the park authority which could either purchase it and lease on its own terms, or permit it to be sold. (4) By agreement with the farmer access ways to beaches should be leased or purchased and then policed by the authority. Where the farmer is willing, camping grounds offering minimal facilities should be similarly acquired and run by the authority. Several Advantages

Such a scheme would have several advantages. National Seashores would conserve scenic beauty, preserve the special coastal plant communities, yield pleasure and recreation and at the same time help to maintain our agricultural economy. No large outlay of money would be necessary, since purchase of land would not be necessary 'immediately and could be spread over many years. There are already a considerable number of seashore reserves belonging to the i Marine Department, City and Coijjity Councils and regional authorities. These, particularly the smaller areas, could well continue to be administered by the present authorities but within the framework of a broader national policy.

In the selection of areas nothing should be considered too small if the quality is high and particularly if near a large city. Bays to which it would be difficult to construct road access need not be excluded since there are still New Zealanders who can walk and who enjoy a haven from the automobile. Also access by water is now open to an increasing number of small boat owners. Some continuous areas of extended

length should be considered so that systems of walking tracks over headlands could be established, with camping grounds at intervals. These proposals are essentially a conservation of the status quo, designed to protect what still remains of our unspoiled coastline from subdivision, which in many cases not only destroys beauty but cramps public use or blocks it entirely. I believe that if the necessary legislation could be passed quickly the conservation could be achieved at very little cost. One has oHly to look around to see the urgency imposed by the ever increasing pressure of an affluent population. If we delay we shall only salvage a limited second best at greatly inflated land prices. Even if full development of the designated areas has to wait for many years they will have been conserved and can still give pleasure for the present. Concern in England In England there is an immense concern among conservationists, town and country planners at the growing urban pressure on countryside and seashore. The frustration of city dwellers seeking weekend escape by car on clogged roads to crowded beaches grows more intense from year to year. A prominent English conservationist has said “the time will come when the British public will wake up to the realisation that they have created an island scarcely worth living in.” We are some way from this situation in New Zealand but are heading very rapidly towards it. New Zealand once led the world in its social legislation. Over half a century later the need for financial benefits are less obvious. In the wider cause ■of providing the best environment for the richest life there are still new channels open where we could lead the way. Conserving in perpetuity the best of the shorelines of these naturally favoured islands, for the free use of all New Zealanders, would be one such opportunity.

Mr C. Panting, of Palmerston North, was elected president of the New Zealand Council of Organists in Auckland today. Mr B. F. Bicknell, of Christchurch, was elected a member of the council.— (P.A.)