14 September 2009
Greetings. New Zealand Deerstalkers’ Association (NZDA) makes the following submission on the St James Conservation Area discussion paper and DOC proposed future management and implementation.
NZDA is the national association of deerstalkers and other big game hunters, with 50 branches and hunting member clubs throughout New Zealand. NZDA has 7800 members, and has been actively advocating for recreational deerstalking and hunting, running hunter training courses, trips, conferences etc since 1937. NZDA sets and maintains ethical standards for recreational hunting of its members.
Several NZDA Branches and hunting clubs have an interest in hunting in St James. Branches include North Canterbury (Christchurch), Marlborough (Blenheim), Nelson, Wellington, Hutt Valley, Malvern, Motueka, West Coast (Greymouth) and Rakaia (Ashburton). Other branch members and independent recreational hunters will also be interested. There are an estimated 60,000 big game recreational hunters in New Zealand [Nugent, 1989].
A significant difficulty with St James is its difficulty of public ground access, because it is a montane basin surrounded by high mountains, and guarded in its lower reaches by formidable gorges. See also NZDA’s initial submission of 15 May 2009. NZDA strongly supports the DOC proposal of allowing a wide range of recreational activity in St James.
1 Summary
NZDA’s summary views on future management of the St James conservation area are:
1 Government purchase of St James for recreation, not preservation
There is no government fund for purchasing land for public outdoor recreation. This is partly because DOC is not primarily an outdoor recreation orientated agency, but a native biodiversity advocate.
Hence purchase through the Nature Heritage Fund (NHF) does not indicate that the lease was primarily purchased for native biodiversity reasons, as there is no other mechanism but the NHF for buying large areas of land for public use.
Other pastoral lease whole property purchases eg Birchwood, have been similarly purchased for recreation and scenery protection, as much as for native biodiversity reasons. Birchwood plus former State Forest and UCL areas became the Ahuriri Conservation Park, primarily a recreational park.
There were some important biodiversity reasons for purchasing Birchwood, namely endangered black stilt habitat, and some other matters, as well as its outstanding recreation qualities. Rare birds have been adequately protected within the Ahuriri Conservation Park. Such nature protection is similarly possible with a St James Conservation Park.
St James was done pragmatically through the NHF for the same reasons as Birchwood. The then Prime Minister Helen Clark said that her government saw St James being purchased primarily for recreational purposes, at the snowy day October 8th 2008 announcement of the Crown’s purchase at the new homestead.
St James too has high landscape values and is suited to a range of outdoor recreational activities, including ones not welcome in national parks eg 4WD touring, mountain biking, horse riding, recreational big game hunting, gamebird hunting etc. NZDA does not support St James being used to grow matagouri!
2 Manage as a recreationally oriented conservation park
The whole approach of tenure review, of which the whole property purchase is effectively a part, has been to form conservation parks eg Ahuriri CP is based on the Birchwood whole property purchase, and tenure review of Glen Avon, with the state forests and UCL extracted from the Birchwood lease during the formation of the NZ Forest Service, added in. St James is a larger and more tattered version of these rivers and landforms, and Ahuriri’s west to east progression but with lower mountains.
St James, as a conservation park, can provide for deerstalking and big game hunting (chamois, Red deer and pigs), canoeing and rafting, mountain-biking, trout and salmon fishing, gamebird hunting, 4WD clubs and groups being allowed via vehicle/driver permits, horse riding, downhill (Amuri) skiing, things not welcomed in national parks, if allowed at all. There are also tramping, walking, rock climbing, mountaineering, and cross-country skiing.
Conservation parks are specially protected areas under the Conservation Act, whose primary aim is to facilitate public recreation and enjoyment. They are the only land designation under the Conservation Act that mentions recreation.
3 Not national park, or part of a national park:
The St James area has been grazed for over 150 years, just as Molesworth has, and the fragile nature of the land has meant it has suffered significant damage, in terms of fire, overgrazing, scree and mountain erosion, especially in the drier east. It is primarily mountainland, mainly beech forest in the west, open grazed river flats in the centre, and lower mainly scree often eroding mountains in the east.
There are better more scenic mountain and forest lands already in national park or national reserve eg Nelson Lakes, Arthur’s Pass and Mt Cook National Parks, Lewis Pass National Reserve etc.
The main mountain range, the Spenser Mountains are already partly in Nelson Lakes National Park, on their western side, outside St James. The Spenser Mountains are noted for their massive amounts of scree, eg Mt Una, Faerie Queen, Gloriana Peak. They are typical of most lower New Zealand mountains near the Main Divide in the South Island.
New Zealand already has 14 national parks, probably too many. Most (six) “protect montane native ecosystems along the Southern Alps, similar to St James, but much more impressive. The regime DOC enforces for national parks is restrictive of recreation, with significant sectors of the outdoor recreation public restricted and marginalised eg recreational hunters, mountain bikers, 4WD users, horse riders, trout and salmon fishers.
It is time to manage public conservation land for other primary uses than mindless preservation. Recreation and scenery is the main reason people go to the back country, not preservation. There are no specifically endangered native animals/birds in the area, or native plants. Even if some rare plants were found, they can be protected in a conservation park, eg by fencing off.
4 Recreational big game hunting encouraged:
There are some chamois and Red deer on the St James property. Recreational hunting should be
encouraged as the primary means of controlling deer and chamois. There will be no commercial helicopter recovery on St James until it is de-stocked of farmed livestock in June 2010.
NZDA proposes that the property be made a recreational hunting area, to encourage recreational deerstalking and chamois hunting. NZDA’s understanding is that deer and chamois numbers are low. But the pastures available would provide feed for these animals. The area should not be open to heli-hunting, should the Minister permit concessions for this unethical and commercial rich man’s type of trophy collection.
5 WARO operations opposed
Given the goal of recreational use for St James, recreational hunting should be the primary means of managing deer, chamois and wild pigs on St James. The chamois resource is limited, and may already have been wiped out since Crown purchase. Red deer are also limited and only at low densities, and appear to have been greatly reduced recently.
The added accessibility being proposed for St James will make recreational hunting even more likely to be able to manage the limited number of animals present.
NZDA strongly opposes any heli-hunting concessions in the St James Conservation Area.
6 FWD public access provided:
DOC appears biased against public FWD use of farm tracks. There are a number of 4WD accessible public roads eg Malings and Edwards roads. DOC does not control these, so it is the Huirinui District Council’s job to do this. There is every reason why these roads should be publicly used, though with constraints eg in winter when snow or mud can cause concern. Appropriate conditions should be discussed between DOC and interested FWD stakeholders.
Other farm tracks that are not legal roads on the property which the former owners used should be available, to responsible FWD groups, if DOC expects to use them itself. As well there is the legal road and farm track through the Magdalen and Steyning Valleys to the Waiau and St James.
This gives straightforward road access to DOC’s Steyning Hut near the edge of St James, put in by NZ Forest Service to allow recreational deer and chamois hunting. Part of this road may be in the adjacent Glenhope lease. The trip through the Magdalen and Steyning Valleys to St James is a straightforward and attractive access to St James.
All these trips are very attractive for recreational hunters and FWD clubs.
Most FWD hunters and FWD clubs, of which there are many in the South Island, are usually responsible, and already observe a FWD environmental care code. They should be able to go through the property on these terms. If it is good enough for DOC to do this, it should also be good enough for responsible 4WD-ers. It may be necessary to limit the number of parties, because the roads are somewhat fragile in places.
7 St James’ open space is very valuable to recreational users.
Provision of open space is a major positive for recreation, as it maintains the views of the impressive mountain landscape, and the ability for recreational users to move with freedom eg on horses, or mountain bikes, or tramping. One of the attractions of St James is the amount of open space, because of its previous use for grazing, and, in some areas, the naturally open frost flats.
DOC’s normal obsession to revegetate any open space will create a major conflict with many recreational users, who prefer to see the scenic vistas of mountains, basins, rivers etc. DOC will need to clearly set out, with reasons, any areas it wants to revegetate or use for carbon storage so recreational users can assess how bad the adverse effects will be on their outdoor recreational use.
8 Mountain biking supported
DOC’s proposed policy is to allow mountain biking anywhere on St James where it can be carried out except for the St James Walkway. Anne and Christopher huts on the Walkway would be able to be used by mountain bikers.
NZDA supports this policy. It should make it easier for recreational hunters to take out wild animals harvested.
9 DOC overstates conflict between recreational users
The DOC backgrounder makes the usual DOC noises about possible conflict between different types of recreational activities. These are usually far less than with DOC wanting to lock out or unreasonably control recreational use in preference to its own native biodiversity experiments eg impenetrable matagouri or carbon storage for DOC or industry commercial gain.
10 Aircraft commercial use zone should be reduced
DOC proposes that air access will be “restricted” north of a line from Mt Una (Spenser Mountains) east through Fowler Pass to the Clarence-Tophouse Road. “Restricted” means for DOC management purposes only. Lake Guyon lies in the “restricted” zone.
The St James land below this line would be “frequent” air use, ie unrestricted number of flights and landing sites.
NZDA proposes the Christopher Valley and the lower part of the Spenser Mountains, including Faire Queen and Gloriana Peak be added to the “restricted” zone. Also a buffer 2 km on the eastern side of the St James Walkway would seem needed, with all St James land west also included as “restricted”. The Una “restricted zone makes up only 25% of St James. Taking out the Christopher and the Walkway buffer and forest makes the area up to about 50%.
11 DOC’s Carbon storage opposed - creates conflict with recreation.
St James was not bought for carbon storage. If carbon storage is the aim, then it is best left to fast-growing exotic species, and the commercial sector. Native vegetation is not usually good at storing lots of carbon. Carbon storage eg by allowing scrub and shrubbery to establish on open space, and loading forested areas with undergrowth, impedes several types of recreation, including tramping, deerstalking, mountaineering, angling etc. As well revegetating open space cuts out landscape vistas that are impressive in the St James - Waiau Valley central basin.
12 A representative stakeholder planning reference group:
This was discussed at the Stakeholder Workshop at the beginning of December. A representative and alternate would be elected by each major stakeholder group. The Group would develop a broad-ranging plan to allow as many recreational activities as possible, albeit constrained to reduce any potential damage to the environment. This is in contrast to the often constrained activities, eg only vehicle access for DOC, that has become characteristic of DOC’s approach to tenure review.
This stakeholder reference group should be set up in the near future. I trust these ideas will be able to be considered by yourself and DOC Canterbury.
13 Huts and facilities
NZDA supports DOC’s proposed facility developments. Steyning and Jervois huts are valuable for deerstalking and should be maintained to encourage recreational hunting. Steyning hut, though not in St James, is valued as on the edge of St James.
A bridge across the Waiau replacing the old bridge below the Stanley confluence would give flexibility against river floods.
14 Medium term actions
14.1 Motorised access:
NZDA supports allowing permitted club parties to use Malings and Edwards Roads this summer. Having permits for access for clubs should mean only responsible users go in, and that larrikinism is eliminated. It would also give DOC information on how much road damage resulted. Motorbike access may be more difficult, though it is probably easier.
A 4WD track joining the Maling and Edwards Roads should be considered, as it would allow round trips. Travel in the Waiau Valley proper has attractive views.
14.2 New privately owned commercial huts
NZDA prefers all huts to be open huts. Usually this restricts them to be provided by DOC or recreational clubs eg NZDA, Fish & Game. NZDA does not favour private luxury lodges. There is plenty of opportunity for these on adjacent lands or leases, after they have gone through tenure review.
14.3 Hydro-electric power and irrigation storage, wind farms
Hydro development has adverse impacts on trout and salmon fishing. Appropriate wild and scenic rivers need to have guaranteed protection from damming and abstraction.
NZDA is unable to judge the worth of any electricity or irrigation scheme until a plan for it is put forward, and the adverse impacts able to be assessed.
15 Better public road access from the North:
NZDA does not support additional road access across the property, apart from the 4WD farm tracks already in use. However NZDA does seek better public road access from the north, especially through Rainbow pastoral lease and the Acheron-Molesworth Road, neither of which are fully open public roads.
The roads from Hanmer to the Tarndale boundary with the Rainbow, and to the Acheron Bridge over the Clarence are public roads with no restriction (apart from being closed by the weather). The Rainbow Road from Six Mile Creek to the Molesworth boundary is not generally on the legal road alignment for much of the distance, some fords are difficult to cross (Six Mile Creek, Cooper’s Creek), and a $25 toll is charged both ways primarily as an access charge. Transpower is the agency that maintains the road through the Rainbow lease. But it has no interest in access for the public
Similarly the Molesworth-Acheron Road is not managed as a public road, though it is supposedly on the legal road alignment for 95% of its distance through Molesworth. It is only open from just after Christmas to 30 April. Usually Landcorp has it closed for much of this time because of so-called “fire risk”.
Both these roads have been used as routes between Hanmer (and Christchurch), Blenheim and Nelson since the early days of European settlement. They are historic routes, and there is every reason why they should be public roads, just like the Clarence Road through Molesworth.
Then recreational hunters and other members of the public wishing to recreate in St James from Nelson, Marlborough, Wellington and points north, would have much more ready access than at present, just as the public from Canterbury already does.
Yours truly
Alec McIver
President
Dr Hugh Barr
National Advocate
© 2011 New Zealand Deerstalkers' Association