The RED HILLS The final round?

Forest and Bird, Volume 18, Issue 1, 1 February 1987, Page 17

The RED HILLS The final round?

In mid-October 1986, the Department of Lands and Survey released its "Resources Report on the Red Hills’’ — four years after the National Parks and Reserves Authority asked it to investigate the proposal to add 27,000 hectares of the spectacular Red Mountain and Northern Olivine Range area to Mt Aspiring National Park. The Society shares the concern of Federated Mountain Clubs that this unique landscape needs national park protection. Les Molloy, long-time recreational and scientific advocate for the conservation of the area brings readers up-to-date on the issue. Mc Aspiring National Park, New Zealand's 10th national park, was formed in 1964 after an intensive campaign by Otago citizens for a park which protected the schist mountains in the north-west of the province. The Otago section of the NZ Alpine Club, and the Federated Mountain Clubs of New Zealand, played a major role in this campaign. It was hardly surprising then that the initial park was confined to the most spectacular parts of the schist mountains of the Southern Alps — from Haast Pass in the north-east to the Humboldt Mountains at the head of Lake Wakatipu. These original park boundaries were chosen to avoid any possible conflicts with other land use interests, such as: @ pastoral runholders in the adjoining Dart, Reed, Matukituki, Makarora and Arawata valleys; @ The Forest Service who administered large areas of montane and lowland forest to the west (Arawata, Cascade and Pyke State forests). @ The mining industry which was interested in continuing prospecting for minerals in the Red Mountain area to the west of the Olivine Range.

Previous additions to Mt Aspiring National Park

To the disappointment of the park advocates, the 200,000 ha park designated in 1964 had a rather unsatisfactory western boundary, which stopped about 5km short of the ‘mineral belt’ and thereby excluded any of the ecologically interesting ultra-

mafic rocks, soils and vegetation. The park also insufficiently represented the grasslands of the main valley floors and the diverse lowland forests of the western slopes. Subsequently significant areas of montane beech protection forest were added however, and brought the park up to 287,000 ha by 1971; but the park board and the departmental administration were still dominated by the thinking of Otago mountaineers, for they were still slow in getting the park extended to the extent that it protected the full range of ecosystems and

habitats in NW Otago and Westland south of the Haast River. ‘Scenic grandeur’ was still considered to be the predominant criterion in deciding whether or not to confer national park status. Unfortunately, the board and the department lacked the scientific resources to document the case for an ideal park, truly representative of the landforms, vegetation and wildlife of this remote corner of the South Island. Nevertheless, there have been some valuable piecemeal additions to the park since then:

a small 2000 ha sector of the mineral belt around Fiery Peak in 1972; the compulsory resumption from the Mt Earnslaw pastoral run of the magnificent Mt Earnslaw and the Forbes Range in 1973 (9250 ha); the west bank of the Dart in 1982; and the Haast Range (only down to 200m, thereby excluding the floor of the Arawata Valley) in 1986.

The Red Mountain/Northern Olivine Range Proposal

With the passing of the new National Parks Act in 1980 the emphasis shifted from scenic grandeur alone, to also include scientific importance and ecological representativeness as criteria for additions to existing parks. The way now seemed clear for the new National Parks and Reserves Authority (NPRA) to evaluate the earlier Red Mountain/Olivine Range addition proposals which had been put to the former National Parks Authority (Molloy 1977, 1979). Additional support was provided by the release of the Mt Aspiring National Park management plan in 1981, for the plan supported the extension of the park to the west. But once again the idea began to founder on the rocks of mining industry intransigence, regional/central government rivalries and Ministerial ineptness (Molloy 1983a). Eventually the NPRA called for a full investigation of the addition proposal at its September 1982 meeting; this "section 8 investigation’ was of some urgency and was to involve the public fully in the evaluation of the proposal.

Departmental Resource Report

Once again, however, the Red Mountain saga had to involve another chapter, with the main characters having to journey off into the wilderness of more urgent, and controversial, national park issues — particularly Okarito/Waikukupa, Waitutu and Paparoa/Punakaiki. Now, over four years later, the resource report on the Red Hills addition proposal has been released for public comment (Lands and Survey, 1986). Although the report is fairly balanced it is

curiously out of date in its failure to appreciate that most of the lands of the Crown that are involved in the proposal will now be administered by the new Department of Conservation. Consequently arguments such as excluding the Pyke Valley from the national park in order ‘‘to avoid dual administration’ (Forest Service/Lands and Survey) just don’t apply any more. The departmental report does not cast any doubt on the NPRA’s view that the land in question is of national park quality. It concludes that the ‘‘bulk of the study area is suited only to protective and recreational uses,’’ and that ‘‘a high level of protection is appropriate for this large part of the study area’’. On the basis of the known interest group constraints and preferences, it evalu-

ates seven possible boundary options; unfortunately six of them result in additions smaller than the 27,000 ha proposal. Nowhere does the report objectively try and assess whether a larger addition involving state forest (such as, including the Skippers Range and Awarua Bay) would be preferable. Society members can make up their own minds on the ideal boundary for the proposed addition. The scientific and recreational points of interest in the proposal addition are summarised opposite. Submissions on the report should reach the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Department of Lands and Survey, P.O. Box 896, Dunedin, by 23rd February 1987. Late submissions will be accepted. g&

References

Lands and Survey, Department of, 1986: A Resources Report on the Red Hills, NP Series No. 35, 33pp. Lee, W. G., Mark, A. F., Wilson, J. B., 1983: Ecotypic differentiation in the Ultramafic Flora of the South Island. N. S. Journal of Botany 21: 141-156. Molloy, L. F., 1977: Red Mountain National Park or Asbestos Mine? Supplement of Forest and Bird (August 1977), 16pp. Molloy, L. F., 1979: Outdoor Recreation on the West Coast, Federated Mountain Clubs of NZ, Wellington, 122pp. Molloy, L. F., 1983a: How much longer before Red Mountain is protected? Forest and Bird 14 (2), 17-24. Molloy, L. F., 1983: ‘‘Wilderness Recreation in New Zealand", proceeding of the 1981 Wilderness Conference, FMC, Wellington, 148pp.