Submission on the draft management plan for Westland/Tai Poutini National Park

Thank you for the opportunity to submit on the draft Westland Tai Poutini National Park Management Plan.

I support, in full, the submission by the New Zealand Alpine Club (NZAC) on the draft Plan and I submit that the draft Plan be withdrawn and reworked.

New Zealand has a long history of protecting significant mountain places in national parks for their intrinsic worth.  Further, preserving these special places for enjoyment, including climbing and related activities, is of the utmost importance.  The draft Plan erodes this protection and has other aspects that are of concern.

In particular, the transformation of many approved aircraft landing sites to two huge zones, such that aircraft could land

(a) anywhere in the névés of the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers between 1500 and 2500 metres; and

(b) anywhere in the same altitude range in the catchments of the Callery and Cook Rivers including the iconic climbing areas in the Spencer, Balfour and La Perouse, where NO landings are currently permitted, will impact enormously.  This, combined with an increase in numbers of permitted landings and no distinction made between tourist scenic landings and those for, say, climber drop-offs at Centennial and Pioneers Huts, will extend tourism in the Park. Climbers and ski tourers will be in more crowded places, tranquillity will be diminished and overflights will increase. I do not support these changes, which fly in the face of experiencing nature on its own terms. 

I do not support the creation of an "amenities area" in the Franz Josef Glacier Valley, adjacent to the Glacier and up to an altitude of 1700 metres, either for the proposed gondola or for any other amenities, where national park values will become secondary. 

I attach the NZAC submission with my submission on additional matters of concern to me.

In my opinion the draft plan represents a deplorable departure from previous management plans and sets a permissive, development-focused path for the management of this very special places into the future. 

Whoever drafted this document is clearly not familiar with the intentions and premises of the National Parks Act 1980 and the general tenor of the General Policy for National Parks  (2005) governing document.

It is these intrinsic qualities of the Tai Poutini NP that were intended to be preserved under the ‘National Park’ designation at the outset of the creation of the NP. Yet, as visitor numbers grow across this park, so does overt and covert pressure on DOC to facilitate greater access and create economic opportunities for a swathe of commercial operators. Yielding to that pressure will irrevocably alter or destroy experiences and opportunities available to current and future New Zealanders (who own the park – not you the regulators).

In this context this paragraph from the act is unambiguous.

 "It is hereby declared that the provisions of this Act shall have effect for the purpose of preserving in perpetuity as National Parks, for their intrinsic worth and for the benefit, use, and enjoyment of the public, areas of New Zealand that contain scenery of such distinctive quality, ecological systems or natural features so beautiful, unique, or scientifically important that their preservation is in the national interest."

It doesn’t say anything about facilitating commercial exploitation of the intrinsic values of National Parks or creating extensive infrastructure developments in the park.

Under the National Parks Act 1980, DOC is required to administer and manage national parks in accordance with the General Policy for National Parks 2005.

A key purpose of the Tai Poutini National Park Management Plan is to implement this clearly prescribed but seemingly overlooked by your drafters  General Policy Document. Inter alia, this General Policy document States: "8.1(c) Planning and management for recreation and other opportunities for the benefit, use and enjoyment of each National Park should:
i) preserve national park values, including natural quiet, as far as possible …
iv) maintain the distinctive character of recreation in New Zealand national parks, including the traditional New Zealand backcountry experience with its ethos of self-reliance."

These essential and vital provisions are blatantly ignored in the current draft plan.

I respectfully submit and request that any proposals in the draft plan that are not compatible with these principles in the General Policy Document and Act be rescinded.

The draft Plan erodes the protection of intrinsic values that I have detailed above and has other aspects that are of concern to me also.

The draft plan gives minimal consideration to the huge carbon footprint created by the dramatic growth of mass tourism envisaged and facilitated by the plan (especially foreign tourists). It is now desperate for this to be addressed and this will include rationing access to the park and reducing and mitigating human created pressures on the natural resources and environment of the park.

An amenities area has been proposed for the Franz Josef Glacier Valley as part of a Gondola development that would run up to near the Almer Hut. This would involve considerable infrastructure, provisions for access and ongoing maintenance. The argument for this is to provide easy access for tourists to enjoy our shrinking glaciers, which is somewhat ironic since they are partially responsible for this with the CO2 emissions of long-haul flying. I think this is a very poorly thought out proposal. For instance, it will have a devastating effect on the integrity of the Westland/Tai Poutini NP and abrogate the intrinsic value of the mana whenua. It will create a visual eyesore and reduce the area to a Disneyland experience for short stay tourists. I think this would be a betrayal of kaitiaktanga, a sellout to developers who have scant regard for the mystical and intrinsic value of our taonga. Not only this, but once the developers get their way, they will inevitably want to ruin other valleys with similar proposals.

Although the draft prioritizes environmental stewardship and protecting mauri, there is a permissive approach to intrusive development to assuage the voracious appetite of Mass Tourism. It is assumed that this deluge of tourists will exponentially increase but this is unlikely. New scientific information on the rapidity of Climate Change over the last few months suggests that New Zealand will have to adopt drastic measures to reduce New Zealand’s fossil fuel industries in the near future, not at some distant date as inferred on page 27 of the draft document This may well change the dynamics of Mass Tourism. The intrusive developments I’m referring to are the Gondola proposal and the increase in aircraft landings over a wide area on the neves.

Protection of our ecosystems and mauri should be our priority. Our endangered fauna and flora need the highest priority along with pest management. We are in the 6^th extinction presently and the future looks bleak for all species.

I endorse the various submissions of the NZ Alpine Club on the plan.

Thank you

Dr Stanley Mulvany

Submission on the draft management plan for Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park

Thank you for the opportunity to submit the draft Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park Management Plan.

I support, in full, the submission by the New Zealand Alpine Club (NZAC) on the draft Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park Plan and submit that the Plan be withdrawn and reworked.

New Zealand has a long history of protecting significant places in national parks.  Preserving these special places for climbing and related activities is of the utmost importance.  The draft Plan erodes this protection and has other measures that are of concern.

In particular, the huge increases in both the aircraft landing zone areas and the allocated landings (10 fold), while at the same time retaining a separate category for heli-ski landing zones with unlimited landings, will impact enormously.  This, combined with no distinction between tourist landings and those, say, for climber drop-offs on the Grand Plateau, will extend tourism in the park.  Climbers and other recreationalists will be competing with tourists for flights, tranquillity will be diminished and overflights will increase.  I do not support these increases.

While I support the park and ride system as a means of managing vehicle congestion, there is no guidance on protecting access for climbers and other recreationalist who will come and go from the park at all hours.

I support Unwin Lodge being retained.  I do not support the lodge being used by the public at the expense of Club members and their guests in order to maximise occupancy. Unwin Lodge is an NZAC lodge. Mountaineering has a historical connection in Aoraki since the 19^th century with a rich folklore and literature. We, the NZAC are part of the cultural/historical heritage of the park. I don’t agree that Unwin Lodge should be available to the general public. This is inappropriate. Unwin is a gathering place of like-minded mountaineers, not tourists who have a different perspective. I recommend the status quo in terms of that.

I do not support the closure of the legal road up the Godley River unless alternative legal vehicle access is secured.

I attach the NZAC submission with my submission and additional matters of concern to me.

 In my opinion the draft plan represents a deplorable departure from previous management plans and sets a permissive, development-focused path for the management of this very special place into the future. 

Whoever drafted this document is clearly not familiar with the intentions and premises of the National Parks Act 1980 and the general tenor of the General Policy for National Parks  (2005) Governing document. A key purpose of the new Aoraki National Park Management Plan should be to implement the basic tenets of this General Policy Document.

Inter alia the General Policy States:

"8.1(c) Planning and management for recreation and other opportunities for the benefit, use and enjoyment of each National Park should:
i) preserve national park values, including natural quiet, as far as possible …
iv) maintain the distinctive character of recreation in New Zealand national parks, including the traditional New Zealand backcountry experience with its ethos of self-reliance."

It is these intrinsic qualities of the Aoraki NP that were intended to be preserved under the ‘National Park’ designation at the outset of the creation of the Aoraki National Park. Yet, as visitor numbers grow rapidly across Aoraki National Park, clearly so does overt and covert pressure on DOC to facilitate greater access and economic opportunities for a swathe of commercial operators. Yielding to that pressure will irrevocably alter or destroy experiences and opportunities available to current and future New Zealanders who own the park.

In this context this paragraph from the act is unambiguous.

 "It is hereby declared that the provisions of this Act shall have effect for the purpose of preserving in perpetuity as National Parks, for their intrinsic worth and for the benefit, use, and enjoyment of the public, areas of New Zealand that contain scenery of such distinctive quality, ecological systems or natural features so beautiful, unique, or scientifically important that their preservation is in the national interest."

It doesn’t say anything about facilitating commercial exploitation of the intrinsic values of Aoraki National Parks or creating extensive infrastructure developments in the park.

Under the National Parks Act 1980, DOC is required to administer and manage national parks in accordance with the General Policy for National Parks 2005.

A key purpose of the Aoraki National Park Management Plan is to implement this clearly prescribed, but seemingly overlooked by your drafters, General Policy Document.

These essential and vital provisions are blatantly ignored in the current draft plan.

I request that any proposals in the draft plan that are not compatible with these guiding principles in the General Policy Document and Act, be rescinded from the plan.

I am very concerned about the huge number of overseas visitors that enter the park – more than 800,000 local and international visitors in 2016/17 and predicted to be 1.5m in 10 year’s time. However, this growth assumption may be incorrect. New scientific information on the rapidity of Climate Change over the last few months suggests that New Zealand will have to adopt drastic measures to reduce New Zealand’s fossil fuel industries in the near future. This may well change the dynamics of Mass Tourism. For the present though, I feel overwhelmed by the numbers of tourists when I visit Aoraki. The overcrowding and congestion at White Horse Hill car park are unbelievable. This has to change. Already there is a conflict between Kiwis and the deluge of overseas visitors usurping our special places. The concept of over-flow campgrounds is a short- term fix but will ultimately prove unsuccessful. Limits will need to be put on the number of oversea visitors entering Aoraki NP if DOC is to meet its obligation to safeguard the integrity of the Park’s natural and cultural values. 

There is a lot of discussion in the draft about “Tranquility Zones”. That’s something I firmly believe in. But then it proposes new landing zones at Liebig and Onslow Huts and on Pudding Rock to make it easier for people to assess these areas. I object to this on the grounds of noise pollution, degrading the present Tranquility Zone and altering the spiritual values of Aroarokaehe and Pae Tata. I’ve been to all these places so can testify to their special status.

The greatest challenge for our Iconic places in NZ is undoubtedly Climate Change and nowhere will it be more apparent than in Aoraki. Glacial melt and sea level rise are our barometers of Climate Change and currently undergoing rapid change. NZ glaciers have shrunk by almost 20Km3 in the last 36 years. In 1880, the ice volume on the Southern Alps was 100 km3, in 1978 it was 53.5km3 and now about 37 km3 remaining. In the blink of an eye, we may lose all our glaciers. The associated effect on the geology is likely to be increased erosion leaving a devastated landscape. It’s a perverse situation that the draft plan is promoting greater aircraft access for tourists because of retreating glaciers when they and the aviation industry are contributing and partly responsible for this in the context of huge GHG emissions associated with long-haul flying and local aircraft use.   It is now desperate for this to be addressed at national as well as regional levels and this will include rationing access to the park, eliminating and reducing reliance on activities that use fossil fuels , such as aviation,  and reducing and mitigating  human created pressures on  the natural resources of the park.

Thank you

Dr Stanley Mulvany

Mountain Packraftineering on the Merrie Range

Mountain Packraftineering on the Merrie Range

I’m not sure why it has taken me all this time to find the Merrie Range, which lies on the Dusky Track or more accurately, the Dusky Route, since DOC have given up on it. It's been there on the map and I've only given it a cursory look over until recently when I noticed a series of lakes running north from Lake Roe – maybe good mountain packraftineering country? It’s been an awful spring here in Southern NZ and then as Christmas approached, it looked like a fine spell for the best part of a week. Gavin was not available and Belinda was keen so rather precipitously, we arranged a boat up Lake Hauroko with Joyce and Johan.

On Saturday 22^nd December we drove both cars to Manapouri, leaving one there and headed down to Clifton. Joyce and Johan were soon hitching on Namu and off we went to Lake Hauroko. Then it was a blustery ride up the lake to the Hauroko Burn where we waved them goodbye and settled into the empty hut. The sandflies were terrible outside but I expected this from my previous visit years before when I hastily departed in my kayak after a brief spell at the hut. The weather was clearing and promised a fine day to follow.

It was a cool night in my thin sleeping bag and Belinda complained that I was “sniffing” and keeping her awake – mea culpa! We got going at 8.00 am on a nice easy track which took us in 4 hours to the Gardner Burn where we crossed on the walkwire at the junction to the TL bank of the Hauroko Burn. Here, there was quite a slog uphill and then a slow sidle until we dropped down to river flats further along. From here, it was much easier all the way to Halfway Hut, which we got to at 2.30 pm. Again, this was empty - an unexpected blessing. We had a wash in the creek and lazed around for the rest of the day. The day was brilliantly fine, an azure sky, the mountains resplendent in the scintillating light, the biosphere in harmony. Outside the hut, the manuka was in flower with delicate white rosettes. I felt in tune with nature again.

It was a warmer night and we had a leisurely start at 8.20 am. It was an easy walk through the lovely bush to the walkwire, 3 kilometres further on. In fact, there were 2 wires and soon we were climbing up to Furkert Pass at 864m. It was another sunny day. We reached open tussock slopes around Lake Laffy and beyond it, we reached Lake Roe Hut which was empty. We had lunch here and then B went and paddled around Laffy. She was keen to paddle Lakes Horizon and Ursula, so we set off for them climbing up a steep hill to 1050m to the lakes. We could see Dusky Sound down the Seaforth Valley. We got back to the hut at 5.30 pm and spent a pleasant evening there.

The next day was Christmas day as we set off fully laden for Lake Roe. Belinda paddled around it while I put my packraft away. It has only been a short paddle for me. Then it was a stiff climb of 200m up a valley to the NE to Lake 1200m. This was in a cirque of peaks with steep slopes falling into the lake. Initially, I intended to climb between peaks 1566 and 1595 but this looked impractical with our massive packs so I elected to climb between peaks 1566 and 1458m. It was an easy paddle across to the slopes beneath it. Here we landed and I waited for B to do her circumnavigation. The alpine flowers were stunning- large mountain daisies, Gentians, Aciphyllia congesta, Ranunculus sericophyllus. 

Once on the col, it was a sidle to the left at 1400m. We stopped for lunch while I did a recce. Then we continued on until we ran into a small exposed wall. I carefully climbed this 10m face to easier ground and dropping my pack descended back to Belinda and shouldered her pack to climb it again. Belinda followed right on my heels. Below us, the slopes fell away over bluffs to another lake in a coomb far below. We reached a small lake and following down the creek issuing from this passed several small tarns to a flat gravel plain. The plan was to reach a much larger lake at 1100m to the north and this seemed the easiest route. However, the creek after running across the plain, dived into a short gorge and then over a waterfall maybe 50m high. On both sides, it was pretty near vertical but I figured we could downclimb it on the TL. Carefully zig-zagging down this face, I reached easier ground and then it was a short descent to the lake. Although it was sunny, it was also windy with lots of whitecaps out on the lake – too windy to paddle. I had noticed that the barometric pressure had been dropping all day – not a good sign but I was alert to the first signs of a front. We stopped in the lee of a cliff on the lake – a nice flat area with lots of Bulbinella and Mountain Daisies. “We should see if the wind drops and you can paddle around the lake” I suggested to Belinda. So we spent a few hours there waiting. Then I suggested that I make an early dinner. Christmas dinner was dehi Backcountry Cuisine – not bad! Once that was done, I surveyed the situation again and decided a front was definitely coming. We hastily decided to retreat above the waterfall and bivouac in case of rain. Approaching the cliff, we found it was easier going up. Once above it, we found the easy spur over the range between Tamatea Peak and peak 1595m and camped at the start of it on a level space.  

The clouds were now pouring over the divide and it was pretty windy. I was worried about our exposed situation, a sleepless night, so I took a sleeping pill and knocked myself out (no point in staying awake all night, fretting about something I had no control over, right!). I awoke hours later to a flapping tent. It was light at 5.00 am and I could see the col on the ridge was below the cloud layer so I suggested to Belinda that we “move, immediately”. Now Belinda is not an early riser but she got the gist of this "emergency" and we wasted no time in getting out of there. The ascent of the spur to the col was easy and went fast and soon we were up at 1540m looking straight down to Lake Roe. Off to our right, Tamatea Peak was somewhere in the storm wrack. On the other side, an easy spur of scree and tussock took us down to the lake. We were back at Lake Roe hut at 9.00 am. There were a lot of young trampers milling around as we made breakfast outside and chatted to some of them. By now the weather was picking up though still windy.

After breakfast, we got away on the familiar track to Lake Horizon. It was now sunny but cool with an SW breeze. It did not take long to overtake the parties in front of us. The Pleasant Range is very scenic as it drops towards the Seaforth. Cruising along we met a nice Chinese Chemistry teacher called “Fan” after the “Fantail” or so I surmised. He was resting and enjoying the view. He joined us later for a while. He seemed very impressed by our route and the packrafts we were lugging around. He asked if we were “Hah Cor". I laughed and said I only wished we were. As he was moving at a snail's pace, I had to leave him. Abruptly, the track now in the upper bush zone suddenly dived down cliffs. Thank God for the roots or we’d need a rope! On and on it plunged down interminable cliffs until hours later we merged beside the Jane Burn. We had already passed the last lot of trampers as we emerged beside the last walkwire before Lock Maree Hut. The hut was OK but we did not fancy sharing it with the trampers, so carried on for another half an hour to camp in a tiny clearing opposite Deadwood Flat. The sandflies were bad but we coped. It was a sheltered spot and we could hear wind gusts roaring up the valley though we could not feel them. That evening in the tent before I'd taken off my socks Belinda remarked offhandedly “you’re feet smell like vomit” and then proceeded to spray them with deodorant- sigh!

On 27^th, we set out for Kintail Hut. There were some nice riverine tracks but an awful lot of bog holes. We crossed the walkwire over the Kenneth Burn and then it was a long climb to Gair Loch. Here there were some open flats but beyond the lake was a swamp and few track markers. The word “horrible” was recorded in my diary and it was. Later we found a nice trail all the way to the junction of the Kintail Stream and Seaforth River where the Kintail Hut is situated. This was a welcome sight and no other parties were in residence.

On 28^th, we got up to a blue sky and sunny weather. Just down from the hut, we crossed the Seaforth on another walkwire and further on a second one. Beyond this second one was a remorselessly steep climb to the bush line at 900m. Ahead was Centre Pass and behind us a great view down the Seaforth Valley, Tripod Hill and Gair Loch. It was very windy and we had lunch in a sheltered spot hosted by the visiting kea community. Then it was a steep descent down into the Warren Burn, a tributary of the Spey. At 700m it took a dive into the Spey and we eventually reached the Upper Spey Hut at 460m situated beside a swamp and a ferocious cloud of sandflies. I would have loved a wash but the local denizens were decidedly hostile – pass! Belinda was complaining of pack rubbing on her chest so some leucoplast was applied in a horizontal pattern. However, her feet looked much worse.

The Spey was much easier walking than the Seaforth and we made good time down this easy valley to the road over Wilmot Pass. From there, it was a bit of a road bash all the way to West Arm. There we met many gaily-dressed tourons and together with this eclectic group, we boarded the ferry to Manapouri. Unwisely, we filled up on fish and chips in the pub in Otautau on the way home.

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