Peninsula roadside clearances termed ‘vandalism’ Last-ditch shelters

Press, 14 July 1987, Page 21

Peninsula roadside clearances termed ‘vandalism’ Last-ditch shelters

The roadsides which stretch for thousands of kilometres through the New Zealand countryside occupy an area of land probably as big as the entire reserves network. Does this land have potential use in conservation?

Is its usefulness as a refuge for native plants and animals being undervalued? Should its use as wildlife habitat be encouraged, or should road verges be kept clear of vegetation by grazing, mowing, or other means?

DERRICK ROONEY

looks at a botan-

ist’s approach to the questions, and reports on a row which has brewed over the hacking back of native trees and shrubs from Banks Peninsula roadsides.

The hacking back of native shrubs and trees, with a mechanically-driven rotary-flail cutter, on Banks Peninsula roadsides this year, has raised not only the ire of Christchurch botanists, but also questions about the broader issue of the value of roadsides as “last refuge” habitats for remnant-native vegetation. Mr Hugh Wilson, a free-lance botanist who has been working for several years on a major botanical survey, now nearing completion, of the peninsula, says he has been “having apoplexies” this year over roadside clearing in Akaroa and Mount Herbert Counties.

And Dr Colin Meurk, of the Botany Division, D.5.1.R., says it is important to make roading authorities and counties aware of the usefulness of roadsides as habitats and as "de facto” reserves of native plant and animal species. The public, too, says Dr Meurk, should be made aware of the natural values of roadsides which, in many parts of the country, represent the last refuge of some species. However, the roadside clearance has been defended by the Akaroa County Clerk, Mr L.H.M. Graham, as necessary for road safety and probably beneficial to the plants.

According to Hugh Wilson, the clearance was on a scale far beyond that needed for traffic requirements. It has, he says, resulted in “tragic vandalism to many of the botanical, aesthetic, and visual values of Banks Peninsula roads.” Fuchsia groves, he says, have been cut to road level for many kilometres, whole trees have

been flailed down on inside corners, and fine specimen trees of totara, kowhai, and five finger have been insensitively mutilated. Mr Wilson wrote what he described as a “diplomatically worded letter of protest” to the Akaroa County Council but, he says, the letter drew no response. “No-one doubts that some clearing back is necessary, but last summer it was done appallingly and so insensitively that some education and awarenessraising is sorely needed,” he said this month. “I would be ashamed at present to take an overseas visitor along any of the Banks Peninsula roads. I also can’t help drawing a comparison betweeen what has been done here, and the way similar country roads in, say, Britain, Europe and the United States are sensitively managed. “I saw nothing to equal this sort of vandalism in any of my overseas travel, much of which was by bicycle, so that I had plenty of time to observe roadsides in detail.” In his letter to the Akaroa County Council, dated April 13, Mr Wilson said that he hesitated to raise the matter with the council, because he was fully aware that good clearance was necessary, and that large stock trucks continually used the narrow Banks Peninsula roads. “I wonder if you would consider the possibility, though, that in recent months the clearances have been excessive, to the un-

necessary detriment of other values — chiefly visual and botantical,” the letter said. Roads cleared beyond the level where regrowth would hide the scars included the Goughs Bay and Long Bay Roads, east of the Cabstand, said the letter. “I do know that much of the council work must appear thankless. I stress that I hesitate to be critical of a job that obviously needs doing, but that the actual undertaking be rethought with more sensitivity to the whole range of roadside values,” Mr Wilson’s letter said.

Defending the council’s actions, Mr Graham said that while there had been some criticism, the trimming had to be done every two years for road safety, and the council had neither the money nor the manpower to do the work manually. He said the council had considered Mr Wilson’s letter — and another letter written .by two schoolchildren from the Le Bons Bay area — and had decided that the damage “looked worse than it was.” He said: “it looks very brutal at the time, but it does a lot of

good. The vegetation soon grows back again and grows, if not better, then thicker.” Growth on the harbour views sides of the Summit Road, said Mr Graham, had been cut back more drastically, to open up vistas of the harbour. The trimming, he said, had been done under the supervision of the County Engineer, Mr K. Paulin. While there had been some criticism of it, there had been praise also for the council, for example, the Summit Road Society, during a recent visit to reserves in the county, had con-

gratulated the council on the way it had done roadside clearance, he said. No change in the method of roadside clearance is contemplated by the Akaroa County Council. “We couldn’t" said Mr Graham, "do it any other way. We haven’t the resources or the manpower.” However, the next roadside clearance was two years away, he added. If local people who objected to mechanical trimming undertook to do the work manually next time, the council would be very happy to “come to the party.”