West Coast white herons at risk

Press, 12 August 1980, Page 18

West Coast white herons at risk

Wellington reporter

The white herons of the West Coast are again under grave threat. Drainage and bush-felling works near the headwaters of the Waitangiroto River, north of Okarito, have jeopardised the safety won for the white herons after the campaign fought for them in 1974-76.

The Minister of Lands (Mr V. S. Young) was told about what was happening on July 21, in a letter from the Nature Conservation Council. He was also told that the actions of his own Department z of Lands and Survey were the main cause of the threat. Extensive drainage and land-clearance projects for several blocks of land near the headwaters of the Waitangiroto. River have already begun. The Waitangiroto is just a few kilometres north of Oka•rito, and is the only New Zealand nesting ground of the white heron. There are fears that: the river, stable at present, will be subject to silting, flooding, and bank erosion if the swamps of its upper reaches are drained and much of the protective canopy of native bush felled. The Westland Catchment Board, has approved a timber-milling application for about 240 ha, as part of the proposed landdevelopment programme. Both bush felling and land drainage are expected to have a significant inn pact on the white heron nesting sanctuary, on the lower reaches of the Waitangiroto River.

After the controversy over the colony in the mid-19705, the need to protect the Waitangii;oto River for the sake of the white herons was well recognised. The Land Set. tlement Board viewed the area in April, 1978, during the assessment of the area by the Department of Lands and Survey. Mr Young gave approval in June, 1978, for the purchase of four properties, the lower blocks of which (near the Waitangi rot o) were to be added to the white heron colony, and the northern parts to be developed by the department in conjunction with the Rotokine farm settlement.

However, the department has failed to act on its Minister’s instructions. The Ministerial designation has never been put .on the properties. .. In the two years • since then, one property has changed hands, and the new. owners are anxious to develop their property. Mr Young has told his department to find * out why the 1978 land designation was not acted upon. The Nature Conservation Council, has sent copies of its letter to Mr Young to the DirectorGeneral of Lands, the Director of the Wildlife Service, the general manager of the Rural Bank, and the chief engineer of the Westland Catchment Board. The council said that ,al ; though it sympathised with West Coast farmers whose wish to develop land was constrained without reasonable alternative, it was deeply concerned that the Waitangiroto white heron colony was in danger. The area was also noted for its native trees, particularly kahikatea, and other wildlife, the council said.