TOURIST AREA

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30847, 4 September 1965, Page 22

TOURIST AREA

Upper Waimak. Potential

The potential tourist interest in the scenic and recreational features of the upper Waimakariri area should never be lost sight of, said Mr G. Howard, of the Department of Agriculture, speaking at a meeting yesterday of the North Canterbury Catchment Board. Apart from the Arthur’s Pass area, he said, developments could be expected at the top of the Craigiebum range and in the Bealey spur country. The attractions in these and other localities seemed to call for attention by the tourist industry. Mr Howard was speaking on a land use classification which he and Mr R. Frickett have just completed for the department. It covers soil types and uses in the whole of the 906,630-acre Waimakariri rivercatchment, of which 578,400 acres lies in the upper section west of Springfield. The survey has been made intermittently since 1956, and represents in total about three years’ work. Dr. G. Jobbems congratulated Messrs Howard and Frickett on what he said was a magnificent job of soil cartography. The department’s soil conservation officer, Mr D. R. Wilkie, said that the maps would be available to the board. The idea of the survey was to get basic information for use in run improvement plans.