Park Board still seeks access to Maud Island

Press, 10 April 1984, Page 6

Park Board still seeks access to Maud Island

PA Blenheim The Marlborough Sounds Maritime Park Board will continue pushing for limited public access to Maud Island, in spite of the reintroduction of an endangered bird species, the takahe, there last week. Opposition to allowing the public on to the island has come from several conservation bodies.

The chairman, Mr lan Mitchell, said he and a board member, Mr Mike

Dossor, met in Wellington recently with scientists from Victoria University, an officer from the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, the assistant director of the Wildlife Service, and the assistant director of National Parks and Reserves. All those groups and people were against any increased access for the public to the island, and the Park Board representatives met “a complete blank wall” in trying to present

their case, Mr Mitchell said. At present only people with a scientific interest are allowed to land.

“The whole thing seems to revolve round the degree of risk which would be involved,” Mr Mitchell said. “We got the impression they were not too people-orien-tated, and saw people as a risk,” he said.

The scientists saw the risks as the danger of fire and the introduction of vermin to the island.