New Zealand Deerstalkers' Association

Barrosa Tenure Review Preliminary Proposal

27 June 2005

This submission is made jointly on behalf of the New Zealand Deerstalkers’ Association Incorporated, the national body of recreational deerstalkers, and the Council of Outdoor Recreation Associations of New Zealand Inc (CORANZ).

CORANZ consists of the following national outdoor recreation associations:

• NZ Deerstalkers Association
• Public Access New Zealand
• NZ Federation of Freshwater Anglers
• NZ Salmon Anglers Association
• NZ Bowhunters Society
• Marlborough Recreational Fishers Association

The Council represents the common interests of the million or more New Zealanders who fish, shoot, tramp, ski, canoe, climb, walk, mountainbike, botanise, photograph, relax etc in New Zealand’s great outdoors. Individual members of CORANZ may also be making more extensive submissions.

The New Zealand Deerstalkers’Association Incorporated is the national association of deerstalkers and other big game hunters and clubs, with a membership of 6,800. It advocates for big game hunters and public access for them, and for conservation protection generally.

a) 12 ha (CA3) directly south of Lake Emily as lake protecting area.

b) 2842 Ha (CA1 (Clent Hills) and CA2 (Stour Faces)) to be restored to full Crown control as conservation land.

c) 2,893 Ha to be freeholded.

d) Public easements i) from near the bridge on the Ashburton Gorge Road, up a steep spur to CA1 (k-l); ii) in the SEW corner, alongside the Stour River to CA2 (a-b-c-d) and iii) along the NE side of the property beside the west Branch, Stour River (g-h) to Lake Emily.

We make the following comments re our concerns:

2.1 Marginal Strips should be discussed and shown: All strips taken out as part of this tenure review should be movable. Movable marginal strips were introduced in 1990, and should apply to the reservation under this tenure review, eg by an exchange of all fixed strips for movable strips, as allowed under Part IV A, Section 24E, of the Conservation Act. This should be possible by LINZ working with DOC to achieve this highly improved outcome. It would also help submitters to have the actual marginal strips to be reserved shown in the Preliminary Proposal, eg on a separate marginal strip cadastral map, to avoid clutter on the tenure proposals map.

Movable marginal strips give much greater flexibility to providing public access should steam river or lake beds change in future, as required by the Crown Pastoral Lands Act (S 24 (Objects) (c) (i)) “securing” ie secure access. This is better provided by movable strips, rather than fixed ones, because erosion may occur in future.

NZDA/CORANZ Decision Sought: All marginal strips to be marked and made movable, and shown separately on a cadastral map, in future Pastoral Lease tenure review consultations.

2.2 Conditions of change in the access easements: To make these more permanent, we ask that all easement agreements include that any proposal to change the easement require public notification of this intention.

2.3 Additional Access needed from the North end of Clent Hills (CA1) to/from Lake Emily: We are surprised and disappointed that there is no public access to/from CA1 from the North End eg from the Lake Emily public land. The only direct access to this landlocked area (CA1) is via a very steep ridge ((k-l) from the Ashburton Gorge Road. The trip along the tops of the Clent Hills and out to Lake Emily would make a great one day tramp. But this is impossible without a northern exit/access.

Equally the ability to do an afternoon’s walk from Lake Emily up to the Clent Hills crest would be very desirable on its own.

CORANZ/NZDA Decision Sought: A public strip of land between Lake Emily and CA1, accessible at all times by the public, including by hunters, to better secure public access to the Clent Hills (CA1).

2.4 Additional Leased Land that should be returned to Conservation Land: We are concerned that the following areas have not been returned to public conservation land:

a) Range Crest from South of Barrosa to Point 1350 (?) - High steep land (up to 1367 metres) along the crest of the range beside Mt Barrosa (1367 m), on the north side of Blue Duck Stream. This land is very steep and dissected, and does not appear to be capable of sustainable grazing. It is also some of the highest land in the lease. It has significant inherent values for landscape, scenery, amenity, recreation and open space.

b) Rhyolite Residual point 978; Add to CA2: This is an important volcanic formation that should be included in CA2. Its southern and eastern sides are spectacularly steep, and do not appear capable of sustainable production. The whole peak should be included in CA2. It has significant inherent values for landscape, scenery, amenity, recreation and open space. Right of Way e-f should be appropriately extended, if required.

There are also significant inherent ecological values in these two areas: We strongly support the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society submission, which puts the case very well, namely: F&B Submission: CA1 Clent Hills and CA2 Stour are both considerably reduced in size from the areas identified as having significant inherent values and deserving protection in DoC’s 1997 Conservation Resources Report.

• Part of Area 1 -Mt Barrosa i.e. the south facing gullies from the summit ridge including the upper part of Blue Duck Stream. The CRR described this area as containing the best tall tussock grassland on the property with a good diversity of indigenous plants, including uncommon species such as Lihnocarpa carnosula and few exotic species.
• The valley floor, fans and lower slopes of Area 7 Northern Stour Valley hard tussockland on the north –eastern slopes of Clent Hills. Only the higher altitude part of this area is proposed for protection.
• Part of area 9 Stour River Rhyolite including high point 978 and a low saddle on the western side of this where the CRR identified there being a red tussockland on poorly drained soils.
• Topdressing, oversowing, burning and continued grazing have been identified as major threats to the RAPs identified in the two PNA survey reports for the Heron Ecological Region. These activities are also a threat to these areas described above.
• The preliminary proposal gives no explanation or reasons as to how the freeholding of these areas is consistent with the CPLA, protects significant inherent values or promotes ecologically sustainable management.

NZDA/CORANZ Decisions sought:

1) Expand CA1 to include all of Area 1 Mt Barrossa and all of Area 7 Northern Stour hard tussockland.

2) Expand CA2 to include knob 978 and the nearby red tussock wetland.

c) Greater Protective land area around Lake Emily: We strongly support the Royal Forest and Bird submission, which puts the case very well, namely:

F&B Submission: Lake Emily is approx 20 ha of shallow (approx 2 metres deep) open water amidst a swampy tarn (approx 50 ha) fed by small streams and seepages. It is part of the 274 ha RAP Hakatere 5-Lake Emily. The wetland is described as in the PNA survey report as “one of the best examples of a small lake wetland system”. It supports bog rush, red tussock, pukio and a diversity of other sedges. The threatened Aciphylla subflabellata is found here. Red tussock and fescue tussock dominate the surrounding terrestrial vegetation.

Lake Emily and its associated wetland provide habitat for moderate numbers of waterfowl at various times of the year including grey duck, scaup, and paradise shelducks. The wetland is an important nesting and feeding area for waterfowl.4 Southern crested grebe occur in spring and summer. 5 A wider buffer area is needed to protect the lake margins and hydrologically connected areas from stock damage and grazing. Past practice of lessee allowing stock access to Lake Emily and the absence of any proposals for fencing means that stock damage is likely to continue.

Proposed access easement k-l which rises steeply from the road and is likely to deter less agile walkers and trampers from enjoying proposed CA1. Recreational use to Lake Emily is already well established for fishers, walkers and others. Providing access to the northern end of Clent Hills from Lake Emily, as well as the southern end, would be more practical and consistent with current recreational use patterns, and take advantage of the gentler terrain.

Protecting this northern corner of the lease as proposed below would avoid the need for new fencing to protect the lake margins.

CORANZ/NZDA Decision sought: Extend CA1 down the lower north eastern slopes of Clent Hills to the lease boundary as far as the fenceline to the south east of Lake Emily (i.e the fenceline immediately east of the proposed m-n easement concession for water supply).

2.5 Protection of Red Tussock Values – South Ashburton Gorge: We strongly support the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society submission, which puts the case very well, namely: F&B Submission: “A small area of red tussock wetlands adjacent to the road, south-east of Blowing Point is the first area of predominantly indigenous vegetation that travellers see close to the road as they approach the Lake Heron Basin. The area has significant ecological and landscape values. The steep rocky lower slopes of Clent Hills provide a dramatic backdrop to this small tussockland.

These lower faces of Clent Hills and the unnamed gully to the east of Blowing Point are inappropriate for freeholding because of their landscape values, steepness, unsuitability for grazing and strongly regenerating indigenous shrubland cover.

The red tussock wetland and these rocky faces deserve restoration to full Crown ownership and protection as conservation land for the following reasons:

• Red tussock wetlands are hugely reduced in extent because of cultivation, burning, drainage, OSTD and their conversion to exotic pasture. Any that remain have high significant inherent values.
• The lessee currently grazes cattle in the wetland. Continued grazing will degrade the significant inherent values. Current and previous lessees have developed all of the other relatively flat land adjacent to the road and replaced indigenous tussock, shrubland and other vegetation with exotic grasses and trees. Recent vegetation clearance and cultivation across the Ashburton Gorge road for development purposes (on the south-western side) from the red tussockland highlights the risk to this wetland.
• The 1997 Conservation Resources report noted that “Blowing Point Swamp and its steep rocky side slopes are the subject of a unique and striking vista from the road at Freezing Point , and are important as the “entrance” to the Heron Basin.” (DoC 1995 para 2.1.3). The areas was mapped as having landscape value in the 1997 Values Map in the Conservation Resources Report.
• The Upper Rangitata/Arrowsmith/Lake Heron area is one of a “Six Pack” of new high country parks, proposed by Forest and Bird and Federated Mountain Clubs. The proposal also includes the Rakaia, Rangitata, Harper Range conservation areas, Lakes Heron, Roundabout and Camp, and the new Lake Heron conservation lands; and likely additions from tenure review on nearby pastoral leases such as Barrosa. The Blowing Point wetland and the bluffs behind it, Blowing Point itself and the Ashburton Gorge are the obvious entrance to the park. Freeholding these red tussock wetlands risks there degradation and destruction.
• Under unencumbered freehold tenure, there would be no certainty that the existing indigenous vegetation would not change to a more modified landscape, compromising existing ecological and landscape values. Grazing, burning, oversowing and topdressing, afforestration, and tracking are likely or possible future uses. Continued grazing will cause tussock condition to decline. Other uses will change the vegetation cover to more exotic.
• The Resource Management Act and the Ashburton District Plan will not prevent the cultivation, overgrazing and destruction of the wetland. To the best of Forest and Bird’s knowledge no resource consent for modification of tussock grassland or other native vegetation have been notified for public submissions since the Plan became operative in 1998.
• It would be consistent with the Government’s High Country Objectives (Cabinet Policy Committee POL (05)14 including to “ensure that conservation outcomes for the high country are consistent with the New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy.” The freeholding of a significant lowland red tussock wetland is not consistent with Objective 1.16 of the Biodiversity Strategy.
• In the eight years since DoC’s 1997 Conservation Resources Report on Barrosa, the importance of lowland tussocklands and the extent of their depletion has become increasingly recognised. Less that 80,000 ha (less than 2 %) of the remaining “predominant” tussock grasslands are managed by the Department of Conservation . (MfE, 1997 The State of New Zealand’s Environment, p 8.72). Given the under representation of tall tussock, including red tussock in the conservation estate, and their extensive depletion, all of the Blowing Point red tussockland, including the area recommended by DoC should be protected
• Elsewhere in the Conservation Resources Report, DoC has noted “Unless severely depleted or modified, most high country wetland vegetation types should be protected, because nationally and internationally, wetlands are greatly modified and under-represented in protected natural areas.” (DOC Modified Barrosa CRR, Part 4 July 1999) The failure to protect this area is inconsistent with the report and a significant oversight. Given its small size, its grazing value is likely to be low.
• No information is provided on how freeholding and continued grazing of the red tussock wetland would promote ecologically sustainable management as the CPLA requires. The Ashburton Gorge road and the unformed legal road at the base of the rock outcrops provide adequate access for moving stock between the proposed or existing freehold land and grazing on the river terraces above the South Branch of the Ashburton River without the need for a new easement for stock access. Dung on the sealed road indicates that it is already used to move stock.