Bank gives to national parks centenary

Press, 13 June 1986, Page 25

Bank gives to national parks centenary

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

The Bank of New Zealand has given $150,000 for the national parks centenary in 1987. On September 3, 1887, Te Heuheu Tukino, of the Ngati Tuwharetoa, gave the three mountain peaks of Tongariro, Ngauruhoe, and Tuapehu to the Government for a national park. This was only the second national park anywhere in the world, and the first in the southern hemisphere. Today there are 10 national parks and three maritime parks, 21 State forest parks, many

reserves of all kinds, and numerous other protected areas. The B.N.Z. money will go to the National Parks Centennial Commission, whose brief is “to make sure the centenary is celebrated in a manner worthy of the original gift.” The commission has also been asked to make the public more aware of national parks and protected areas. Most of the sponsorship will be used to fund a television documentary series, with a programme on each of the parks. To be called “Journeys,” it will be fronted by Peter Heyden and should screen

in late 1987. The intention is to have chatty scripts, exploring people and places in the parks often overlooked in the rush to film spectacular scenery and endangered species. Almost all the filming for Fiordland has been completed and the crew is about to film in the Mount Cook-Westland parks area. Mr Heyden said a theme for the series would be the conflict between preserving the land as it was and making it more accessible for people to use.