Tacit support for new national park

Press, 20 August 1983, Page 7

Tacit support for new national park

Parliamentary reporter A new national park based on Punakaiki and the Paparoa Ranges, on the West Coast, is now much more likely with the tacit support of the Lands and Survey Department. The department has published its report to the National Parks and Reserves Authority.

It makes no recommendations, but its contents gener"ally support the creation of a new national park. The authority is not expected to make a final recommendation to the Minister of Lands and the Gov-ernor-General on the issue until June, 1984, but it has set in train a series of events leading up to a recommendation next June. Submissions from the public on the department’s report will close before Christmas, and they will be processed next year before the authority’s April meetin 8-

If a national park is likely to be supported, the authority will have a final round of talks on the West Coast with the United Council and the West Coast National Parks and Reserves Board next May. Depending on the degree of public interest, a public meeting may also be held. The 51-page report found, generally, that the proposed area met the criteria for the formation of a national pack. The probable final area for decision next year comprises about 28,000 ha.

In general terms its i southern boundary would run from Dolomite Point to Mount Anderson embracing < the Punakaiki River valley; ; its eastern boundary along i the summit of the Paparoa Ranges from Mount Ander- < son to Mount Ramsay; its ; northern boundary would < follow the bed of the Four 1 Mile River, and its western boundary would follow the ] sea coast or the edge of j cultivated land. t Nearly all of this land is ]

controlled either by the department or the Forest Service. It embraces two large ecological reserves as well as the established Punakaiki Reserve. It would include the big cave systems at Xanadu and Fox, but not the Ananui Caves to the north of the Nile River. Copies of the report could be made available to the public soon, said the Direc-tor-General of Lands, Mr P. H. C. Lucas.