Park board’s plan still a secret

Press, 25 May 1977, Page 17

Park board’s plan still a secret

The public should be told more of the future plans for the Arthur’s Pass' National Park, said Mr N. D. Hardie at the annual meeting of the park board. He was commenting on the annual report of the chairman, Mr E. J. Davies. “The report should have something about the future. People are anxious to know about our huts policy and what we are planning,” he said. Mr Davies said in his report that the board’s management plan was being considered by the National Parks Authority and public comment on the plan would be sought at “an appropriate time.” Mr Hardie said that the plan had been in existence for 10 years and the public had not seen it. He was aware of concern among clubs which used the park about this lack of information. The public had the right to know that the board was approaching the end of its hut-building programme; that it hoped to extend the wilderness areas; and that negotiations were being held for the inclusion of more land in the park, said Mr Hardie. Mr Davies said he hoped the management plan would be ratified before the end of the year and then it would all be made public. “The board’s primary’ management planning objective is the preservation of the park as far as possible in its natural state.” After the delays with the plan there was consid-

erable urgency that it should be ratified soon, said Mr Davies. Consequently it was agreed that the plans to extend the Otehake Wilderness Area to the east, thereby almost doubling its size, should be included in the annual report. The tailing off of the hut-building programme was also included. At the board’s ordinary monthly meeting, which followed the A.G.M., it was agreed that better liaison was possible with clubs and park users. Mr Davies suggested that club members could be invited to attend the board meetings and Mrs M. G. Clark suggested a newsletter which would keep park users informed of the board’s activities. A report on possible improvements to the board’s public relations will be made. Board members were concerned about the threat to the safety of trampers and family groups posed by shooters in the park during holidays. Mrs Clark said that during holidays there were many vulnerable families visiting areas where shooting permits had been issued. She had been assured by a shooter at Easter that he did not shoot from tracks. “But,” Mrs Clark said, “I don’t stay on tracks and I do not want to be shot in the back because of this.” After discussing the limiting of shooting in certain valleys over holiday periods the board voted to refer the matter to its huts and tracks committee for further consideration.

A trial to urge trampers to carry their rubbish out of the Waimakiriri River Valley has not been as successful as the board hoped. Rubbish bags placed in the Carrington Hut were being found in the hut rubbish hole instead of being used, as intended, to carry rubbish out of the valley, said the Senior ranger, Mr J. O. Charles. “A sign in the hut says we have a problem with rubbish disposal and asks people to pack their rubbish out. We spent two weeks digging a collossal rubbish hole two years and a half and it is now full,” said Mr Charles. The board hoped its continued public relations programme would educate the public to carry rubbish out of the park. The year was busy for search and rescue operations in the park with 23 incidents being recorded. Most of them were for people overdue on tramping or climbing trips and relatively minor accidents were experienced. An estimated 23,250 people visited the park’s information centre and museum in the year ended March 31. In the previous year 29,700 people visited the centre. The construction of a lattice steel bridge over the Otira River downstream of the confluence with the Deception River was one of the two major construction projects in the park last year. The other project is the upgrading of the sewage disposal system for Temple Basin ski field which is still under construction.