Media Release
Date February 20th, 2007

Conservation Board Rejects DOC Decision On Vehicle Access

The Canterbury-Aoraki Conservation Board at its recent meeting unanimously rejected a decision by the Department of Conservation to extend motor vehicle use for anglers and the public adjacent to and around Lake Heron Wildlife Reserve in the Ashburton Lakes District.

The Board Chairman Alan Jolliffe said: “ The Board is very disappointed with this decision and it has major concerns about future damage to the area caused by 4WDs and other motorised vehicles considering there is already evidence that these vehicles are causing damage here. This land was purchased by the Nature Heritage Fund for is conservation values.”

The decision, presented to the Conservation Board by East Coast/Hawkes Bay Conservator Peter Williamson, extends vehicle use from the present barriers at the Lake Inlet to the Highbank area, a distance of about 3km involving unspecified engineering work to cross the wetland at the Inlet.

The decision referred to “the submissions and background material” provided to him which included only a summary of the submissions prepared by DOC staff.

The decision describes “a vehicle usage pattern that has been in place for more than 25 years and is both valued and respected by anglers”. Information provided by the Conservation Board to the Department indicated that the vehicle usage pattern had not been continuous – having been restricted or stopped by the previous lessee on a number of occasions following abuse of the privilege granted. Previous management was based on farming values, not conservation values, and the users did not consistently respect even the farming values.

DOC’s decision places “an onus on vehicle users to oversee and monitor the right to take vehicles along the route”. However the Board has earlier received the results of Departmental monitoring of vehicle use in the currently-permitted area, where vehicles were allowed on a trial basis, subject to activity being confined to the line of a newly formed road.

That monitoring recorded 30% of drivers observed by Departmental rangers were driving off the first newly formed road alongside the Lake Heron Wildlife Reserve.

The Board’s rejection of the decision is that it “does not reflect the weight of evidence presented by all submitters”, and that “the implication that the activity occurred continuously for 25 years is at variance with reality”. The Board noted that previous abuse by drivers had resulted in closure of access on a number of occasions and there were not significant numbers of people having access to the area.. The Board also expressed concern that “conservation values were not adequately considered.”

“Misty-eyed stories of large numbers of anglers driving, for many years, cautiously around the area avoiding any valued natural areas, and ceaselessly monitoring one another's activities, are simply pipe dreams,” says Board Chair Alan Jolliffe. “Previous management was based on farming values, not conservation values, and the users did not consistently respect even the farming values. “

The Department of Conservation is legally bound to protect conservation values, especially in Wildlife Reserves such as Lake Heron. Lack of control by vehicle users during the monitoring period confirms that present management is inadequate to protect conservation values in the area where vehicles are presently allowed.

ENDS

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