ROD AND GUN Protecting Public Rights In Use Of National Parks

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31316, 11 March 1967, Page 22

ROD AND GUN Protecting Public Rights In Use Of National Parks

(Specially written for "Th* Press" bv JAMBS SttRS)

Ten national parks, covering the country from the Urewera to Fiordland, set aside for future generations of New Zealanders a wonderful holiday playground. Forest parks, leaning more towards the multiple-use principle, have reserved even more of scenic mountain and bush for trampers, hunters, fishermen and sightseers. The only areas not covered are key scenic and recreational shoreline areas, and the sooner provision is made to set aside such areas, the better.

It is pleasing to see that the question has had urgent consideration from a working party on national parks administration in New Zealand, which recommends that the Director of National Parks and Reserves be responsible to “take urgent and positive action in co-operation with the Ministry of Works and local authorities to safeguard in public ownership’,’ such areas. Rod and gun enthusiasts will also be pleased with a number of recommendations made by the working party. These include: “That the National Parks Authority define the ultimate extent of New Zealand’s national park system. "That master planning and zoning be written into national park legislation with provision for the following zones: wilderness, scientific and special interest, natural environment general recrea-

tion, development and village.” This is a fine attempt to rationalise a situation which has led to considerable dissatisfaction in the past, particularly with the establishment of ski-ing facilities at Tongariro and Arthur's Pass. This is further dealt with by the recommendation that "legislative provisions relating to the establishment and operation of business enterprises in national parks be clarified, with wide discretion in terms and types of arrangement permissible.” Another recommendation is “that limited grazing should be allowed to continue on open areas in national parks where it is to suit the park's and not the grazier’s convenience.” Particularly pleasing to New Zealand deerstalkers is the recommendation that

“endeavours be made to extend the user-pays principle in national parks through charges for facilities and services, and by fair and reasonable contributions from concessionaires and clubs operating base lodges and huts.” Deerstalkers have been paying for years for the right to hunt wapiti in Fiordland, and though it has led to considerable criticism of their organisation in the past, it is now good to see the principle vindicated. Also pleasing to hunters is the recommendation that the extermination policy relating to introduced flora and fauna be related to park values, a recommendation that could be

taken to read as: wild animals and introduced plants should not be removed for the sake of it The report is timely because it is at this stage that the public has turned in force towards the greater use of the parks. A comparison of figures shows that in 1962-63 the parks were estimated to have had 346,500 visitors. In 1965-66, the figure rose to 833,500. The working party has recognised the necessity for prompt action. “These are the critical and formative years of New Zealand’s National Parks,” lit says. “Just as the Roman earthworks in Britain are still clearly discernible from the air in spite of 2000 years of intensive cultivation and land use, so the shape. of decisions made now will be discernible in national parks

for hundreds of years to come. “It is therefore vital that the best administrative means are used to ensure that what is done now is soundly thought out and carried out by an efficient and responsive organisation which has the benefit of the latest and best advice and techniques in the recreational use of land and the preservation of its natural features.”

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