Walkways will sink or swim on how farmers react

Press, 2 March 1977, Page 19

Walkways will sink or swim on how farmers react

The national Walkway network, an idealistic scheme for luring “townies” out into the countryside, is facing its biggest test — the reaction of the farming community. Farmers hold the success of the scheme in their hands. If it has their goodwill, it must succeed; if not, it will certainiv fail.

The idea, first promoted by the Federated Mountain Clubs, is to establish a network of walking tracks throughout the country. Some will be easy Sunday afternoon walks close to towns and cities. Others will be more difficult routes in the back country, suitable only for e.xperienced, properlyequipped trampers. The aim, enshrined in the New Zealand Walkway Act, is to provide “safe, unimpeded foot access to the countryside for the benefit of physical recreation as well as for the enjoyment of the outdoor environment and the natural and pastoral beauty and historical and cultural qualities of the areas they pass through.”

But the tricky bit is the intention to cut Walkway

tracks over private as well as public land. Federated Farmers are represented on the New Zealand Walkway Commission, and on the 12 local district Walkway committees, but opposition from some farmers is already being encountered

as proposed track routes are being investigated.

The whole spirit of the scheme, however, and indeed the letter of the Walkway Act, is that tracks will cross private land only with the full consent of the landowner or lessee.

Many safeguards are written into the legislation. When a landholder agrees to sell, or to give an easement or lease over his land, for a Walkway, he can impose any special conditions. He can make it a rule that the Walkway or part of it must be closed during the lambing season, for example, or during periods of high fire risk.

It is an offence under the Act for anyone using a Walkway to damage a farmer’s property in any way, or to disturb or endanger his stock. Walking is virtually the only activity permitted. The Act forbids the carrying of guns, lighting of fires (except in fireplaces provided), riding horses, taking dogs, driving vehicles, disturbing stock or wildlife, and doing any damage.

Proponents of the Walkways scheme see it as a real benefit to private landowners. When Walkways are clearly defined and marked with the

Walkway symbol, people will be required to stick to the track and not wander over private land. At present, they say, trampers — especially inexperienced ones — frequently don’t know where they are allowed to go or even where to ask permission. Walkways will solve that problem.

In Canterbury, the first Walkway is aimed at getting Christchurch people to walk tracks bordering the Summit Road. To be called the Crater Rim Walk, it will eventually go from Sumner right around to Diamond Harbour along the rim of the flooded volcanic crater that holds Lyttelton Harbour. The first sector was easy to settle. It runs from Scott Reserve beside the Sugarloaf around to the Sign of the Bellbird, about a quarter of the proposed initial Walkway from the Bridle Path to Gebbies Pass. It traverses existing public reserves. Negotiations over the rest of the route are at a delicate stage, because the local Walkway Committee needs the consent of about a dozen landowners. Some have already agreed in principle; some of the others are sympathetic to the idea, some are not.

Until those negotiations are complete, the Canter-

bury Land District — from the Conway River to the Waitaki — will have no Walkway. Four have already ' been created in other land districts — at Mount Auckland near the Kaipara Harbour, at Hakarimata .near Ngaruawahia, Colonial Knob at Porirua, and PineappleFlagstaff near Dunedin. All four traverse mainly publicly-owned land and were easily and quickly established. Subsequent Walkways all involve enlisting the co-operation of farmers and are not proving so easy.

For a more difficult Walkway route, the Canterbury committee is looking at a remote area at the headwaters of the Clarence river in North Canterbury, where the river drains Lake Tennyson. It also involves obtaining the consent of landowners. But if it comes off it will be a 45km walk of the more challenging variety, suitable for experienced tram-

By

GARRY ARTHUR

pers only. Existing tracks would be used and the resulting route would be of comparable difficulty to the Heaphy Track or the Routeburn, but harder

than the Milford Track. The Clarence river valley Walkway is intended to be one of the links in an ambitious national

Walkway running from the North Cape to the Bluff. But the practicalities of such a marathon foot route have yet to be explored. Difficult,

even impossible, terrain may lie in the way, and there are some stretches, such as the Mackenzie Country, which might prove too monotonous to attract many walkers. For Timaru people, the Canterbury Walkway Committee is looking at a Sunday stroll type of walk in the Pareora-Cave area of the Pareora Gorge, about 12 miles from the city. Growing traffic on the three well-known walks —

the Milford, Heaphy, and Routeburn Tracks — is one of the reasons that new walkways are considered an urgent need. Brian Hunt, a member of the Federated Mountain Clubs executive, and one of the prime movers behind the walkways scheme, says there are many nonpublicised walks, complete with huts, which could help to relieve some of the pressure. He would like to see these lesser known tracks quickly

declared walkways, so that the Milford. Heaphy, and Routeburn would get less of a hammering. He also considers it essential that walkways be managed in such a way that they do not generate more traffic than they can cope with. The tit st walkways, especiallv the Dunedin and Mount Auckland sections, are already getting very heavy use. To ensure that this does not ruin them, Mr Hunt says that as many sections of

the walkway as possib e must be opened in various parts of the country straight away. Three grades of walkways are proposed — easy walks of up to four hours, suitable for people of alt ages and degrees of fitness; well-defined tracks suitable for adults and older children with some tramping experience; and lightly marked routes through bush or tussock country’ suitable only for fit experienced trampers.