The Conservation of Castle Hill

Forest and Bird, Issue 314, 1 November 2004, Page 24

The Conservation of Castle Hill

GORDON ELL;

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the Southern Alps.

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astle Hill qualifies better than most of New Zealand’s outstanding landscapes for the description ‘iconic. Situated on the main west highway from Christchurch to the West Coast, Castle Hill lies in a vast high-country basin clothed largely in windswept tussock but scarred by shingle slides and punctuated by limestone outcrops. It is these limestone rocks which give it an almost mythical dimension. Some southern Maori have been known to refer to it as their ‘Stonehenge’ though the dramatic tors and limestone blocks are the result of natural processes not ancestors. There are many traditional associations, however, for Maori and European travellers and the mass of rocks unsurprisingly led to its English naming as Castle Hill. A vast cave that can shelter a thousand or more sheep has been in the past a summer camp for Maori hunting the basin for birds. European run-holders followed the same route, introducing sheep in the late 1850s. Wander among the standing stones and you can find the remains of Maori rock drawings on some: early shepherds and travellers from the 1860s have engraved their names in classical script onto the flat surfaces of the limestone. This small part of Castle Hill station has been public for a very long time: the Kura Tawhiti (Castle Hill) Conservation Area covers some 54 hectares and immediately

The move to further-protect Castle Hill Station also adds to the mosaic of publicly owned conservation and recreational land in the mountains directly inland from Christchurch. Drive inland, across the Canterbury Plains and over Porters Pass, and enter a huge valley alongside which much of the landscape has been preserved in recent years. In 2001, the Government was successful in buying a number of properties to create a drylands conservation park — Korowai/Torlesse — running from the Big Ben Range across the Torlesse Range to the boundary of Castle Hill. The area now protected runs beyond the paddocks both sides of the West Coast road, including the inner slopes of the Torlesse Range which is the outer-mountain bastion above the Canterbury Plains. Castle Hill in turn abuts a further conservation park, long-established on the Craigeburn Range, further inland. This includes beech forests which run into Arthur’s Pass National Park. ‘Not only does this create a huge recreational area relatively close to Christchurch but it secures excellent samples of the native vegetation and wildlife from the Canterbury Plains across high-country grasslands through the beech forests to the mountain tops, across the centre of the South Island, say Dr Gerry McSweeney, national president of Forest and Bird. ‘It is a great step forward in our campaign to see the values of the New Zealand high country permanently protected for recreation and conservation.

focusses the attention of any traveller on the West Coast Road. Beside it, also sheltered by limestone blocks, is the Lance McCaskill Nature Reserve a six-hectare patch of largely bare earth in which several rare species of plants are protected. (See "The Hidden Treasures of Castle Hill by Sarah Mankelow in Forest ¢& Bird, February 2001.) Nearby reserves, recognising the peculiar forms and plants of the limestone outcrops, include Cave Stream Scenic Reserve where a river runs underground between two parallel streams. Maori claims to the area were recognised in 1998 by the Ngai Tahu Settlement Act which acknowledged a topuni — a symbolic protective cloak laid by a chief — over the Castle Hill Reserve. The tribe has the right to be consulted in the management of what was once a base for hunting birds, including kakapo, in the former beech forests. The Castle Hill reserve is known again as Kura Tawhiti, the ‘treasure from a distant land’ in recognition of Maori associations.. Castle Hill Station, however, runs well beyond the valley highway, stretching up to 2100 metres on the frequently snowy tops of the Craigeburn and Torlesse Ranges, themselves front ranges of the Southern Alps. As such, they secure the site of the Mount Cheeseman ski-field, an important playground for Cantabrians. That, and the hunting, tramping and mountain-biking potential of the property were strong arguments for the purchase of more than three-quarters of the old station by the Government, for conservation and recreational purposes. There is another felicity. In 2001, the Nature Heritge Fund secured the Korowai/Torlesse Conservation Park, covering much of the Torlesse Range from near Porters Pass to opposite Castle Hill. Now, Castle Hill in turn abuts the longestablished Craigieburn Forest Park, a beechforested mountain complex which runs right up to the borders of Arthur’s Pass National Park spanning the Main Divide. Thus, for the first time, a complete range of highcountry landscapes and their biological values are protected in public hands, adjacent to a major highway, and within little more than an hour’s drive from Christchurch and the populous Canterbury Plains. his is the third time this year that the Government has gone in with private investment to secure a key highcountry property. In each case the jointventure purchase has been negotiated by the Government's agent, the Nature Heritage Fund, which has worked with private partners to purchase each property. In the

deals, private investors have got use of the farmland while the Crown has acquired key recreation and conservation areas. In the case of Castle Hill, more than three-quarters of Castle Hill Station has been purchased by the Crown, in a partnership with an Auckland businesswoman, Christine Fernyhough. ‘The Government’s conservation land agent, the Nature Heritage Fund, paid $3.5 million for 8517 hectares of the 11,124hectare station, including the area on which the well-known Mount Cheeseman ski-field is located, the Minister of Conservation, Hon. Chris Carter, announced. ‘At Castle Hill, Christine Fernyhough has

taken ownership of the best farmland and will continue to farm it as part of her business interests, Mr Carter says. "The land purchased by the Crown is to be protected and added to the two surrounding conservation parks. The purchase secures permanent public access to the Mount Cheeseman ski-field, and to two extremely popular rock-climbing areas at Prebble and Gorge Hills. The area also contains some wonderful tramping, hunting and mountain-biking spots, all located not much more than an hour’s drive from Christchurch. ‘As part of the deal, we have also agreed on a landscape protection covenant over the farmed area of the station and allowed some limited grazing on some of the new conservation areas, Mr Carter said. This means the property can’t be developed as a high-country resort, and its appearance is thereby preserved. [Castle Hill Village, a collection of upmarket weekend cottages on the West Coast road, is not part of the property but with its kerbing and streetlamps is a reminder of how development can compromise wild landscapes. | The Crown’s purchase has occurred as part of the Government’s ‘Public Wildlands Programme’, according to Mr Carter. "This programme seeks to ensure more lasting protection of, and access to, key recreation and conservation areas, at a time of rapidly changing land ownership, land use, and development. — GORDON ELL is a book publisher, writer, and editor of Forest & Bird.