Preserving the miracle

Forest and Bird, Volume 22, Issue 4, 1 November 1991, Page 10

Preserving the miracle

South West New Zealand (Te Wahipounamu) is one of less than 100 premier natural sites around the world. Its World Heritage status puts it alongside the Grand Canyon, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and the Rocky Mountains of North America. Eugenie Sage reports on developments in the heart of the South West, South Westland.

I’ HAAST, where "tree-hugger" was once a term of abuse, half the local community now turns out for the opening of a forest and wetland walk. Roadside signs advertise the World Heritage Hotel Haast Ltd and a new promotional pamphlet begins "Haast — a refuge of wildlife, stands guard over the last and biggest stands of native forest in the country". Talk of the campaign for World Heritage listing being a communist plot to undermine New

Zealand's sovereignty has been largely forgotten. In its place is emerging one of the country’s most positive partnerships between conservation and development. Forest and Bird first suggested the South West nomination in 1985. It is an area of wild and rugged beauty extending from the Saltwater Ecological Area and Waitangiroto Nature Reserve in the north to Dean, Waitutu and Rowallan forests in the south east, encompassing Mount Cook, Westland, Fiordland and Mount Aspiring National Parks and another 1.079 million hectares of conservation land, scenic, nature and scientific reserves.

Making the case for World Heritage listing was a key element in the campaign to persuade the South Westland Working Party and then Government to allocate New Zealand's last stand of lowland semi-wilderness, the beech, kahikatea and podocarp forests south of the Cook River, to the Department of Conservation rather than the Forestry Corporation (See Forest & Bird February 1988). Pamphlets, a calendar, posters, a stream of articles in newspapers and magazines, reports, and the Society's book "Forests, Fiords and Glaciers" helped raise public awareness of the World Heritage concept and the values of the area sought for nomination. It was a high profile and controversial campaign. It was rewarded with the Labour Government's 1989 decision to protect the total area of publicly owned forests and wetlands, and the announcement on New Year’s Day 1991 that UNESCO's World Heritage Committee had accepted the South West nomination. In South Westland there has been an outpouring of creative energy, effort and innovation to grasp the opportunities presented by both events. December will see the opening of the new $649,000 South West Heritage Centre in Haast. The centre

is the lynch pin in a $1.2 million package of recreational, interpretation and visitor facilities designed to present the travelling public with a "sample of the best of South Westland". Several existing tracks such as those to Monro Beach and at Jamie Creek beside Lake Paringa have been upgraded. New tracks and associated visitor facilities have been built at Hapuka Estuary and Ship Creek. A new picnic area and car park is

planned at Jackson Bay. A clifftop promenade and toilets are to be built at the Knight's Point lookout. New displays and other improvements planned for the visitor centres at Fox Glacier and Makarora will make them more fitting entrances to the southern section of a network of heritage highways being promoted on the West Coast. A handbook due for publication in December 1991 will provide visitors with information on the range of things to do and see close to the road. "Its really great to see the things DoC is putting in place because they are of a very good standard," says Jenny Barratt, Westland District Councillor and former member of the South Westland Working Party. There has been a conscious effort by the department to link all the new recreational and tourist facilities with information about the cultural and natural values of South Westland, and the special features of this part of the World Heritage area. On site interpretation panels explain phenomena such as the beech gap, glaciation, and food webs in fresh water ecosystems. Liaison with local tourism operators means facilities are being developed where they will be best used, encouraging visitors to stay another day in the region. Haast

Motor Camp owner, Phillipa Glubb, says guests often walk the new Hapuka Estuary track opposite the camp several times during their stay.

Low key promotion

The intense activity in South Westland is due largely to the $1.5 million grant which accompanied the Labour Government's 1989 decision, the vision of key individuals and the use of employment schemes to

extend the funds available and get local people directly involved in track construction and other projects. Elsewhere, at national level and in the three other DoC conservancies which are responsible for the management of parts of the South West, there has been a decidedly low key approach to explaining the importance of World Heritage status or examining its implications for current management regimes. Not a single pamphlet on a World Heritage theme has emerged from DoC’s Wellington Head Office since the January announcement. The new draft review of the Mt Aspiring National Park Management Plan gives it one sentence and a footnote.

There are proposals for DoC’s Canterbury, Southland and Otago conservancies to promote different aspects of the South West World Heritage area and in their visitor centre displays and signage. In practice this may be a long time coming with scarce conservation dollars having to be pared from other projects. By comparison, Australians have seized on the opportunity their World Heritage areas have created by enacting a World Heritage Properties Act in 1974 to outline the status of these sites, established a management committee for them, and prepared a raft of promotional material films, pamphlets and videos aimed at domestic as well as international visitors. While the Tourism Department's current marketing strategies include encouraging "green tourists" to visit New Zealand, no campaigns focusing on the South West are currently planned. The potential for the World Heritage theme to be a powerful tool in New Zealand’s international marketing effort appears to have fallen foul of the incomplete restructuring of the Tourism Department into the Tourism Board. At a local level it’s a different story. The West Coast Tourism Council has been closely involved with the developments in

South Westland and is preparing a new souvenir and promotional video. The Council's Executive Director, lan Wooster, says the West Coast is probably better equipped than many New Zealand regions to take advantage of the eco-tourism trend. "It’s so easy here for people to get close to nature." He cautions against expecting World Heritage status to pay immediate dividends in terms of tourist numbers. " Sustainable tourism doesn’t happen overnight . . . even if you had cubic dollars to spend in terms of promotion." Word of mouth advertising by people who have enjoyed their stay is the best promotion and that takes time. Even so, tourism contributed $90 million to the West Coast economy in the March 1990 year, up $5 million on the previous year allowing for inflation. . DoC’s West Coast Regional Conservator, Bruce Watson, says it is "remarkable" how quickly the climate of local opinion has changed since 1989. Part of the credit for the turnaround must go to the South Westland Environment and Community Advisory Group, (SWECAG), chaired by Jenny Barrett. With representatives from the tourism industry, farming, fishing, recreational and other community interests, it has worked with DoC to advise and make decision on spending priorities. Conservation interests are represented on the committee by Forest and Bird’s Gerry McSweeney. It has also allocated a small amount of seeding money ($150,000 over

three years) to fledgling tourism ventures. As a bonus, Watson says SWECAG has been so successful as a forum for community consultation on local conservation issues that similar forms of liaison groups are likely to be established elsewhere, for example at Karamea. It is early days yet but there are already a number of ventures which highlight the potential for nature tourism and firmly dispel the "lock-up" myth that conservation and economic development are

mutually exclusive. Former Forest and Bird Director, Gerry McSweeney, and Anne Saunders’ efforts in taking a run down 40 bed motel with a turnover of $60,000 and increasing staff numbers and turnover eight fold in two years, the Monks salmon farm at Paringa, plans for new accommodation at Haast, and increasing interest by residents in organising guided horse treks, hunting, nature photography and jet boat tours show that the stumbling block to economic development in this part of the South West has not been land in government tenure but a lack of previous initiatives by the private sector. Wooster says the distance remains an obstacle to South Westland taking advantage of the forecasted growth in international visitors to New Zealand from one million to between 2.3 and 2.9 million by the end of the decade. An airport in South Westland has been mooted as opening up a number of fly/drive options for short stay Asian tourists and others. A feasibility study is being circulated for comment. Questions of funding and location have yet to be closely examined. Haphazard tourist developments, however, can compromise or destroy the very qualities and features which visitors come to see and experience. As McSweeney warns, "We've been trying to foster tourism based on nature, yet we haven't done the work to identify the sensitive areas, communities, and species which are vulnerable to tourism disturbance."

Land status important

Much of the land in South Westland is stewardship land, with the lowest standard of protection. "When the pressure comes on for tourism activities, sphagnum moss harvesting, or mining, stewardship land is seen as the multiple use land, the land with the lowest priority," says McSweeney. The fact that it is in the World Heritage area currently makes no difference. It is the tenure of the land in New Zealand law which is important. The bold print of Government's 1989 forest allocation decision requires DoC to take account of existing uses and lifestyles, such as moss picking, grazing, and whitebaiting. Both McSweeney and Forest and Bird Executive member, Professor Alan Mark, say the failure to identify the most ecologically important areas of South Westland and give them the higher protective status which national park or reserve classification brings, risks permanent damage to pristine environments through activities such as sphagnum harvesting. An investigation of all Crown land managed by DoC on the western side of the main divide between the Westland and Fiordland National Parks under section eight of the National Parks Act, 1980, was announced in April 1988. The investigation would have helped resolve the issue by indentifying key areas of ecological importance. Options such as the creation of a conservation park were to be considered along with formation of a new national park or an addition to existing ones. Three and a half years later, the investi-

gation remains firmly on the back burner with the fire all but out. In an era of limited budgets, the gazetting of the HookerLandsborough Wilderness Area (accomplished in 1990), improved visitor facilities in South Westland (now well underway) and a management plan for Paparoa National Park are seen as higher priorities. Work on the Paparoa plan continues and the new Conservation Authority has given the national park investigation in the North West South Island top priority. The drafting of a Conservation Management Strategy for the region is also close to the top of the queue for available staff time and resources. There seems little likelihood of additional resources being available to accomplish these tasks more quickly. Bruce Watson says DoC has been careful about the type of privileges which have been allocated in South Westland since 1987. "It has been concerned not to jeopardise the high intrinsic and ecological values of the area and is aware of the proposed higher status for some areas. . . We have tried to be conservative so that we don’t prejudice the outcome of future investigations." On the issue of sphagnum harvesting, he says departmental policy is to assess the conservation values of application areas, and to grant licences on modified sites, and in areas which have had a history of harvesting. Large moss areas proposed for longterm licence, up to 5 years, are publicly advertised for comment. Fortuitous changes in the moss market and a possible over-supply in Japan have temporarily reduced the pressure of

licence applications for moss picking. The 60 or more grazing licences south of Westland National Park on stewardship land are being individually reviewed and existing year to year licences replaced by five year leases. There has been an effort to negotiate stocking regimes with individual farmers to reduce the likelihood of hungry stock grazing adjacent forest. A contract study by the DSIR on the effects of excluding cattle from a series of plots on forest margins, grassy flats and within the forest in the Jackson and Arawata Valleys will help provide useful information for future licence reviews. Mining is a more serious threat. What happens when a mining company applies for a mining licence on stewardship land in a World Heritage area? World Heritage listing has no status in Jaw. Under the law and under DoC’s mining policy it doesn’t have the status of a national park or ecological area. McSweeney says the test against mining is weaker than it should be in these outstanding natural areas. Lack of progress with the section eight investigation also rankles with Jenny Barrett. "We want to know what status this land is going to have placed on it so that we can have some stability for the future." She says entrepreneurs who initiate a tourism venture such as jet boat trips don’t want to risk being put out of business by stricter controls on concessions if the area then becomes part of a national park. In the absence of a section eight investigation, a Conservation Management Strategy would at least establish policy

objectives and an implementation framework for the integrated management of all the region’s natural and historic resources including stewardship land. Work on the strategy on the West Coast and in other South Island regions is in its early stages and several years away from completion. Close liaison between the four DoC conservancies responsible for managing the South West is needed to maintain high standards in protecting natural ecosystems. Rising visitor numbers and the desire of eco-tourists to experience the environment they travel through, and not just admire the scenery through a coach or car window, will inevitably increase the pressure for tourist concessions and access to the conservation estate. Awarua or Big Bay illustrates the potential for conflicting management objectives within the department compromising conservation and wilderness values. Enclosed on three sides by lowland forests and wetlands, access is by air or several days walking. A number of concessions for guided hunting trips include Big Bay within their licence area. New applications for guided walking trips and canoe safaris are being considered by DoC Southland. If these ventures are successful, the number of aircraft landings on the beach, and the number of visitors to an area which currently has only a DoC hut, whitebaiters’

cribs, and no proper rubbish, toilet or other facilities, could increase considerably. Yet to the north east of Big Bay, the Upper Cascade/Gorge River area is managed by DoC West Coast as a remote experience area in accordance with former Forest Service policies. Without an adequate buffer zone, the potential for incremental erosion of a potential wilderness area is high, particularly as DoC

Otago proposes to permit aircraft access to the nearby Red Hills after a 22 year ban on landings to protect the area’s wilderness values. The more sensible strategy would be to direct concessionaires to focus their activities on Martin's Bay, a little further south. An airstrip, toilets, rubbish and accommodation facilities already exist there. Such decisions, however, require a

level of inter-regional coordination within DoC which is not currently obvious. One potential solution may be to establish a management committee for the South West World Heritage area, including sector groups and non-government representatives, as has been done in Australia. This could have the added benefit of linking communities as distant and diverse as Haast, Tuapatere, and Twizel, and fostering a sense of identity for the area as a whole.

Possum threat

In the estate protection area, other management challenges exist. Possums threaten to repeat the ecological disaster they have created in the rata and kamahi forests of the central Southern Alps in extensive areas of South Westland forest. This year, DoC’s control efforts are focused on the Copland/Karangaru and Moeraki catchments. Possum numbers in the Moeraki catchment are low at present while the kaka population is strong. The overlap between the foods preferred by kaka and possums means control programmes are vital in ensuring that those plant species which help support high bird populations such as native fuchsia, mistletoe and Southern rata remain abundant. The continued decline in real terms in the conservation vote has seen control work "postponed" in other areas, including the magnificent stands of rata forest in the Turnbull River catchment. This risks a burgeoning of current low populations capable of containment, and possums invading the forests between the Paringa and Haast Rivers where they are now largely absent. Introduced predators also threaten bird species such as the yellowhead. A survey of the yellowhead population in the Landsborough Valley in January showed a huge decline in bird numbers compared to a similar 1985 survey. A stoat plague last summer is thought to be responsible and DoC plans to start a five year trapping programme this summer. With its wild and rugged splendour, outstanding examples of temperate rainforests and floristically rich alpine plant communities, its landforms bearing the imprint of major stages in the earth’s revolutionary history, and the range of habitats it provides for a number of threatened species the South West easily satisfied all four criterion for World Heritage listing. As "Forest, Fiords and Glaciers" said, "that such a stunning natural asset has survived almost untouched for so long seems a miracle." The miracle must be preserved by ensuring that human uses continue to touch the landscape only lightly. In South Westland sustainable economic development depends on conservation. Increasing local confidence in the future of nature tourism and the high quality visitor facilities being put in place are the result of a creative partnership between DOC, private sector tourism operators and industry representatives, and the local community. Each relies on the other. All rely on the preservation of the unique natural values of this part of the South West.