Park plan hearing

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 5, Issue 28, 8 December 1987, Page 1

Park plan hearing

The Tongariro Taupo National Parks and Reserves Board met to hear submissions on the draft management plan for Tongariro National Park at Turangi recently. The board heard submissions from more than twenty different groups and individuals, including clubs as well as commercial operators. The hearings lasted three days, from Friday 27 November till Sunday 29 November. Submissions given covered a wide range of park management policies. The

two ski field operators, Turoa Skifields and Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, recommended changes to the draft plan which included increases in the boundaries of the ski fields' licence areas. Turoa also suggested the plan should not disallow commercial heliskiing operations or hotel accommodation within the park. One group presented submissions concerning the future construction of a gondola up to the Whakapapa ski field, while another questioned the draft management plan's exclusion of any new roads within the park boundaries.

This group expresses an interest in building a road from Horopito towards Ruapehu. Many Whakapapa ski field clubs asked for changes allowing improvements and/or extensions to club lodges. An observer at the submissions hearing said one club seemed to have every one of its members write to the board, mostly repeating the same suggestion. The observer commented that the hearings were not set up to 'count votes' but to provide an opportunity for the Board to hear as wide a range of Cont'd on p. 17

Park plan hearing

Conl'dfrom p. 1 suggestions and ideas as possible on the future management of the park. The Tongariro Taupo National Parks and Reserves Board is made up of ten members, representing the Tuwharetoa people, Federated Mountain Clubs, local bodies, and the public.

Public representatives are chosen by the Minister of Conservation from public nominees. The Department of Conservation administers and advises the Board. The final management plan for the park is due to be completed about March or April 1988.