Rubbish ruining the bush

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 11, Issue 529, 29 March 1994, Page 19

Rubbish ruining the bush

Central North Island conservation officers are almost at their wits ' end o ver gro wing amounts of rubbish being dumped at hunting camp sites throughout the region. Department of Conservation staff say hunters are almost exclusively to blame. Some areas such as the Waipakihi Valley southeast of Turangi are becoming so bad DoC officers are considering leaving the rubbish there. Last December about 30 large 50 kilo fertiliser sacks of rubbish were cleared out of the valley by DoC staff. "Now," said senior conservation officer Cam Speedy, "the valley is again disgusting." "Camp sites are littered with beer-cans, tin-foil, empty aerosol-cans, plastic, polythene-sheets, even batteries for spot-lighting. "Some camps are immaculate but it's obvious that a number of other people think it's OK to just

dump their rubbish and walk away. What can we do? Do we leave it until it's so disgusting that no-one will go there any more or do we continue spending thou-

sands of dollars each year just cleaning up rubbish?" he said. Mr Speedy, who is responsible for wild animal and protected species man-

. agement in the Tongariro/ Taupo Conservancy , said he is also concerned at the numbers of hunters who leave offal and carcass parts at campsite and huts.