FORGOTTEN HABITATS conservation challenge of the future

Forest and Bird, Volume 16, Issue 4, 1 November 1985, Page 30

FORGOTTEN HABITATS conservation challenge of the future

Alan

Mark.

The battle for protection of non-forested natural areas of New Zealand — tussocklands, wetlands,

shrublands and dunelands — is one of the major challenges facing the Society. Executive member

a professor of botany at the University of Otago, has long been interested in conserving these

important parts of our natural heritage. This article is an abridged version of this year’s Sanderson Memorial Address which Professor Mark delivered.

H:: representative are the formally protected natural areas of the total biological resource of this country? It is generally accepted that the representation is very poor, although significant areas of non-forested ecosystems have been protected in most national parks, in several scenic and allied reserves, as well as in some state forest parks, sanctuaries and ecological areas. In Canterbury, we know from the DSIR Botany Division’s inventory of scenic and allied reserves that, while about 70 percent of the natural landscape is non-forested (mostly tussock grassland), less than six percent of the total reserved area is in tussocklands or some other type of non-forest cover. Otago is no better off — 68 percent of the original landscape is non-forested, mostly tussock grassland, but less than 13 percent of the reserves system is of tussock (and only about 0.11 percent of it lowland tussock grassland). However, 400 hectares has been set aside as the Lindis Pass Scenic Reserve. Though the landscape here is impressive, the condition of the grassland is very poor. The area is still retained within pastoral lease and is grazed on a co-operative management basis — an example of a compromise that could be more widely used in the future. The representation is similarly poor in Southland and Marlborough. In Marlborough there are no_ tussock grassland reserves, although naturally these were important. There are, however, in the latter some small shrubland reserves to retain areas of the unique broom species in their natural habitats. The 3500-hectare Waituna wetland adjacent to Foveaux Strait has been ranked of international importance, though its conservation and scientific values could be greatly enhanced by the addition of adjacent areas of Crown-owned lowland cushion bog. Two hectares of red tussock grassland has been reserved alongside the main highway at Pukerua near Gore in northern Southland. We have also been promoting the Gorge Hill area alongside the highway to Te Anau as a combined scenic-scientific red tussock reserve. The case was finally clinched after 13 years of deliberation with the request of the Wildlife Service to release takahe raised from eggs collected in the wild, into a part of the area. Lands and Survey has now recommended a relatively large

(3200 hectare) area, half red tussock and half beech forest, for reservation. In an adjoining ecological district, the Land Settlement Board has recently confirmed a 35,000-hectare pastoral park for the Lake Mavora area — the balance of the land development block considered unsuitable for intensive development. The National Parks and Reserves Authority recommended, along with a majority of those making submissions, that the area — a magnificent mountain landscape of mixed tussock grasslands, alpine barrens, wetlands and_ beech forests — should be destocked and formally reserved. Ecological Areas Within state forests, ecological areas, though mostly forested, have made a significant contribution to the national system of non-forested protected natural areas within the last decade. Tussock grasslands, wetlands and shrublands are all included in the almost 200 areas involving a third of a million hectares that have been accepted for reservation. The concept, together with that of ecological districts, was initiated by a scientific committee which has now been disbanded and replaced by the Protected Areas Scientific Advisory Committee which is to look at reserve needs throughout New Zealand regardless of tenure. An important feature of these ecological area reserves is the criteria used to identify them — a substantial size (at least 1000 ha) with natural (catchment) boundaries and fully representative sequences of ecosystems.

Moreover, the exercise of ecological area identification was not constrained or even influenced by the Indigenous Forest Policy. Indeed, the committee at its last field meeting in 1984, expressed its concern to the Forest Service that the Government’s Indigenous Forest Policy had the undesirable effect of implying that only indigenous forests were worthy of conservation, whereas to the committee a full range of native ecosystems justified preservation and conservation. In this context I noted with satisfaction an announcement made by the Director General of Forests in March of this year regarding the classes of natural vegetation that in future are to be regarded as indigenous forest for the purpose of the Indigenous Forestry Policy. Included was: ‘‘Seral vegetation, or other natural vegetation, considered locally important as native wildlife habitat or as representative of a vegetation type otherwise rare in the ecological district.’’ Clearly this widening of the scope of the IFP is most significant and represents an important move by the Forest Service is response to these and other expressions of concern. Current Issues in NonForested Ecosystems Shrublands Three current major issues here are the Te Paki, Waitere and Aotuhia areas of the Nerth Island. Te Paki in the far north involves some 20,000 hectares bought by the Crown in

1966 to protect important natural features, as well as to develop areas for farms. Pressure from the Society (see article in November 1984 issue) and others has led to Lands and Survey deferring development of Spirits Bay, a 2250-hectare area with high biological values. The Society believes Te Paki should become a National Reserve because of its biological and cultural importance. mAt: Waitere near Napier, a 1650-hectare land development block contains substantial areas of indigenous shrubland with relatively high numbers of North Island kiwi, fernbird and robin — indeed the highest density of kiwis on public land in Hawkes Bay. The Land Settlement Board has placed a three-year moratorium on the block to allow it to resolve the conservation issues. The August 1985 Forest and Bird looked at the issue of Taranaki’s Aotuhia Land Development Block adjacent to the proposed Wanganui River National Park, where 12 farms are identified for development at cost of $10 million. Besides being an uneconomic proposal, it would also destroy shrublands which are ideal habitat for kiwi. A further North Island issue, as yet unresolved, is a substantial area of the now rare monoao (Dracophyllum subulatum) scrub on the Whakatau Farm Development Block in the Rotorua district. The case for reservation here is also compelling. Wetlands The 1983 report of the Environmental Council’s Wetland Task Force

highlighted the seriously diminished state of the remaining wetlands, and prompted strongly-worded conservation policies from several Government departments and statutory bodies, eg Land Settlement Board. Several wetland areas presently being considered for reservation demonstrate a range of problems still being encountered. Unauthorised drainage of wetlands contained within pastoral leases have undermined the integrity of important wetlands in South Canterbury (eg the Wolds) and in the Matukituki Valley of western Otago (Big Boggy Burn) while boundaries defined within the perimeter of some wetlands destined for reservation has undermined their integrity as ecosystems. This occurred with Borland Mire near Monowai in western Southland and at Kepler Mire, a unique string bog in the Manapouri-Te Anau basin of western Southland — in the latter case subsequent realignment of the fence has resolved the problem. The Waituna Wetland Scientific Reserve in Southland is one of only two in New Zealand recognised as being of international importance. Here two adjoining areas of cushion bog, Awarua Bog and Seaward Moss, would provide a much better representation of the unique lowland cushion bog communities.

These two areas of Crown land are under threat from land development and possible lignite exploitation. Reserve proposals supplied on request by DSIR Botany Division in 1977 to Lands and Survey Department have received no action to date. The nationally important Whangamarino wetland, of almost 10,000 hectares in the lower Waikato Valley, in which biological, ecological and hydrological values are all recognised — it is an integral part of the lower Waikato flood protection scheme — has been the subject of recent significant decisions by the Planning Tribunal, High Court and Court of Appeal. Two farmers who own land on its margin were granted water rights by the local catchment authority to allow them to drain their areas for farming. The Planning Tribunal dismissed appeals against these rights and ruled that the Water and Soil Conservation Act did not provide procedures for identifying and protecting important wetland ecosystems in perpetuity. Significantly, the judge said the efforts of the appellants (including Lands and Survey) would have been better directed to providing for improved control and preservation of wetlands. The Department appealed this decision to the High Court and eventually to the Court of Appeal. Amendments to the law are clearly called for if wetlands are to received adequate legal protection. Coastal wetlands are equally vulnerable — the Aramoana salt marsh, at the entrance to Otago Harbour, remains vulnerable to industrial development, as is the Ahuriri estuarine wetland near Napier. Coastal dunelands are seriously under-represented in the _ protected natural areas system and many important ones remain under threat. At Kaitorete Spit, which encloses Lake Ellesmere, native dune plants and ecosystems are threatened by sand mining (see Forest and Bird August 1984).

Tussock grasslands Major debate focusses on the South Island, but in the North Island the substantial upland Ngamatea_ red tussock-wetland near Taihape is being rapidly diminished through the injection of Rural Bank finance for farming. The area is privately owned, but given the high elevation and its importance as a water source, the use of Government money to develop it appears to be highly questionable. Most of New Zealand’s unique tussock grasslands are contained within the Crown-owned pastoral leasehold land of the central and eastern South Island — 2.7 million hectares or 10 percent of the country’s land surface. Several recent official publications have highlighted the lack of formally protected natural areas within this region. The Society is financing, in collaboration with Federated Mountain Clubs, NZ Acclimatisation Societies and the Deerstalkers Association, a _ fulltime researcher into the conservation and recreational aspects of this land. The Society strongly supports the Government’s recently restated policy of de-stocking, retirement and resumption of Class 8 and severely eroded Class 7 lands — areas that have no sustainable productive capacity. Many unique natural features of New Zealand are contained in these areas and virtually none have been formally recognised to date.

There are also important recreational values in these areas that complement those available in our national parks. Values of Non-Forested Natural Areas The protection of non-forested natural areas will serve a multitude of purposes that are in the national interest. For example, protecting wetlands and highaltitude tussock grasslands will improve management and production of water for a range of human uses, as well as enhancing soil conservation. The education, recreation and tourist values of such areas will continue to grow as they become better known. An increasing number of eminent overseas biologists are visiting New Zealand with the express purpose of studying various aspects of these largely non-forested areas. Clearly New Zealand’s nonforested natural ecosystems are internationally as important and as unique as the native forests which have received strong public support and official recognition. Protected Natural Areas Programme This was started in 1982 with the completion of an Ecological District Map, followed by publication of a comprehensive Register of Protected Natural Areas in New Zealand. This has allowed the reserve needs to be clearly defined. It has

certainly highlighted the dearth of reserves in the central and eastern South Island, especially on Crown pastoral leasehold land. Over the first two summers seven ecological districts of the MacKenzie Ecological region, plus four ecological districts in Central Otago, together with part of the Heron Ecological Region in Canterbury, have been surveyed and reports are now beginning to appear. Other districts are also being surveyed in the North Island — that for the Raglan Ecological District is now available. The organisational procedure to assess these reports and act on recommendations is at present being put in place. It will involve an initial assessment by the Protected Areas Scientific Advisory Committee, and subsequently by the Forest Service and Lands and Survey for land in Crown tenure, but also by the QE II National Trust for private lands. Clearly, the substantial investment of finance and personnel now committed to the PNA programme, and the publicity it has received both here and abroad, has heightened expectations about what it will achieve. Continued support for the exercise and its objectives will be assured from the scientific community. However, it is likely that success will be even more dependent on widespread public support, similar to that generated for saving native forests. oe