Reserve to have better fencing

Press, 10 July 1979, Page 6

Reserve to have better fencing

Adequate protective fencing against wandering stock is a priority at the Mount Fitzgerald Scenic Reserve on Banks Peninsula. This is an aim of a new Lands and Survey Department management plan, one of many prepared for Canterbury scenic reserves. The plan also calls for private trapping and poisoning of opossums if there is a need for more control.

Under the management plan, the isolated. 44ha reserve would not be opened for easier public access. Present access is by foot, either from the Summit Road track or past the end of Whites Road.

At present, “there is little to attract visitors into the reserve itself either for picnics, walking or similar activities,” the plan says, and the reserve would stay that way.

Because it is in a deep gully and faces south, the reserve is sheltered from dry winds and still has bush life dependent on moist air. At least six species of filmy fern have been seen there, an indication of growing conditions unusual for Banks Peninsula bush remnants.