Planning national parks for use

Press, 30 May 1983, Page 12

Planning national parks for use

Landscape architects contribute to the development of our national parks in response to a demand. These great tracts of natural splendour have been set aside for scientific, social, and visual reasons for the public to use and appreciate. One way people participate in the park system is through recreation. This is an important way of easing the social strains caused by urban living. It seems that this trend will continue. Performing this dual function of preserving the natural landscape as well as meeting the public’s demand for use can lead to conflicts. An increase in public use and demand on national parks, makes a greater impact on the resource. The skills of the landscape architect are called on in an attempt to alleviate the problem of balancing man’s use against the preservation of the natural landscape.

For the last decade or more, landscape architects have played a significant role in assisting with planning and design requirements of the national parks. This has been in conjunction with other related disciplines of land planners, park rangers, architects and the park boards. These all effectively aim at achieving a co-ordinated plan for the parks. Landscape architects are involved in determining management plan philosophies and policies of the national park itself. But their main input comes in “pressure areas” — villages, roadways, camping grounds, pathways, buildings, and debilitated areas of the parks. Significant contributions have been made to the planning and design proposals for village development schemes at both Mount Cook and Milford Sound, in the Fiordland National Park. The emphasis here has been on determining areas suitable for vehicle and pedestrian circulation pat-i terns, building development, open spaces and preservation of existing bush, landforms and features. This leads to an ordered, efficient, and visually acceptable standard of village development. Mount Cook village At Mount Cook, landscape work has been fundamental to the development of the village. Not through planting out ornamental garden beds and lawns, but by rehabilitation of specific sites. This contributes to minimising the impact of

man’s intrusion into a natural environment. Extremes of climate prevail in the national parks of Arthur’s Pass and Mount Cook. So the siting of new buildings is critical. Close liaison betweep architect and landscape architect ensures an harmonious design between building and land. Buildings remain subservient to the landscape. A high degree of shelter, containment, and privacy is planned. Taking full advantage of views and sunshine to the site is equally important. These aspects are achieved at Mount Cook by excavation and earth mounding for many of the building sites.

At Arthur’s Pass the predominance of the beech forest and the height and closeness of the surrounding mountains very easily incorporates the buildings into the landscape. As a result, little ground manipulation is required. Because buildings in national parks are designed to be subservient to the landscape, the selection of appropriate colour schemes is important. A safe colour is one that blends with the backdrop through all seasons. Bright colours are confined to small, well-de-fined areas of the building set against the muted background. This provides visual relief, very much needed in the often som-

bre landscapes of national parks. Large scale design National park landscape architects are not often confronted with involvement in dam construction and restoration work. However, this was the case in Fiordland when the Lake Manapouri-Te Anau hydro scheme was constructed. Dams and weirs are significant intrusions. This problem was successfully overcome by careful manipulation of the physical design of the dam to merge and reflect the natural appearance of surrounding landforms. The use of local native vegetation also helped the de-

velopment to look natural. A revegetation programme helps to link the developed areas of national parks into the existing natural patterns. This is especially apparent on the fans at Mount Cook Village where the sparse vegetation of tussocks, grasses, tutu and matagouri has been disturbed during periods of building development. It has been important to establish native plant material to stabilise the land. Plants also provide shelter and containment for spaces around buildings, enrich existing plant communities, reduce the impact of roads, car parks, and enhance open space areas. All plants for national parks are raised from seeds gathered from plants within the park itself.

CHRIS GLASSON, today’s guest columnist, is a landscape architect with the Department of Lands and Survey. He has a B.A. degree in classical studies, and a diploma in landscape architecture from Lincoln College. Signs Signs portray important messages to the public, and all parks have their share of them. A high degree of consistency in sign design with a common theme throughout helps to give that particular national park it own identity. The landscape architect is very conscious that the materials and colours used for signs exhibit an endemic quality for that park. Landscape input in national parks is not an after-thought. It is an integral component of the planning, design, and management operation. , The form which this work takes has been developed specially to meet the needs of national parks.