Mangapurua Valley

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 10, Issue 447, 4 August 1992, Page 12

Mangapurua Valley

• I would like to comment on two letters you published recently from Messrs Taylor and de la Haye regarding management actions taken in respect of the Mangapurua Valley. The Mangapurua Valley is part of the Whanganui National Park which was established in December 1986. A management plan was published and approved for the park in March 1989 following an extensive public consultation process. Policies contained within the management plan reflect public opinion expressed at the time the plan was being put

together and are consistent with the general policy for national parks and with the National Parks Act 1980. In varying levels of detail, these three documents make reference to cattle grazing and the use of off-road vehicles in national parks. Nowhere do these documents suggest that free range wild or straying cattle actually add to the values of any national park. Quite the opposite. Likewise there are principles and policies covering the use of offroad vehicles. These are generally designed to protect park values as well as preserve public enjoyment of parks. Access into the park, especially below Slippery Creek, is limited more by physical barriers than by the provisions of any management plan. In August 1991 there were nearly 40 cattle in the Mangapurua Valley; some wild and others having strayed from their owners. At some considerable cost, 20 of these were mustered from the valley and returned to their owners, two

were shot by persons unknown and a further 12 which were too wild to be mustered, were shot by Department of Conservation staff. These actions were not based on 'decisions made by bureaucrats' but were in accordance with the National Parks Act, the general policy for national parks and the Whanganui National Park management plan which the public, in 1989, endorsed as the correct way to manage the park. The Department of Conservation has a responsibility to implement the provisions of law and Government policy. It is also the department's role as a public service organisation to manage public resources in accordance with the wider public view - as conveyed through the management plan for the Whanganui National Park. The decisions are therefore made by the public and the department translates these decisions into management actions. Bill SimmonsOperations Manager Department of Conservation