Scenic area in dispute

Press, 4 December 1981, Page 13

Scenic area in dispute

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

There is some disagreement over the future status of an area of wild and scenic native bush south of the proposed Lewis Pass National Reserve. The area embraces the scenic Lake Christabel and the valleys of the Brown Grey and Blue Grey Rivers. It has been gazetted by the Forest Ser--vice as an ecological reserve. The Department of Lands and Survey plans to set up New 7 Zealand’s first national reserve in the Lewis Pass area. Based on Maruia Springs, it embraces the Lewis and Maruia Rivers, and much high and rugged country. The department has called for written submissions on its proposals by January 4. Conservationists have long sought a national park in this area. They will probably accept a national reserve instead, particularly as the remote areas north of the reserve but south of the Nelson Lakes National Park, are to be added to the .lational park. But they were concerned that Lake Christabel and its surrounds had been left out of the national reserve proposal.

The Wellington-based group, Action for Environment, received a letter from the Minister of Lands and Forests (Mr V. S. Young) on September 3 on this point. He said that the status and management proposals formulated by the Department of Lands and Survey and Forest Service for the Crown-owned lands in the Lewis Pass and Victoria Range regions had his full support. “On the matter of Lake Christabel it was decided that no action be taken in the meantime, but that the administration and management of the lake, its catchment and state forest land to the south of the lake, would be kept under review,” Mr Young wrote. “As you will appreciate, Lake Christabel lies in a different catchment to the other land within the Victoria Forest Park and to the land in the Nina catchment, which is proposed for addition to the Lake Sumner Forest Park.” After receiving this letter,

Action for Environment was flabbergasted to learn that Lake Christabel and the upper Grey River valley had been gazetted as an ecological reserve on May 31, 1981. The group wondered if the Minister had been told, in view of his September letter. It is hard to reconcile the two. While pleased about the ecological reserve, Action for Environment feels it would

be more sensible to include the land in the proposed Lewis Pass National Reserve, thus preserving its status as an area of national park quality and rationalising land holdings in the region between the two departments. The ecological reserve includes the valleys of the Blue Grey and Brown Grey Valleys, and Lake Christabel. It does not include the valley of the Upper Grey Valley or May Creek, which conservationists would also like to see reserved.