Windy Tops

Tag: government policies

  • Walkability, Connectivity, and Te Araroa

    Two months ago I wrote about Te Araroa (The Long Pathway), and it seems apt to point out that there’s now a set of forums which attempts to build a community of people wanting to discuss walking of the route. I heard about it during a typically tangenting discussion on the NZ Tramper website, which caused me consider more clearly what Te Araroa is for me.

    I guess it’s possible to perceive that Te Araroa is (or should be) a top-down consistently-designed, clearly-marked and well-managed walking track. Perhaps this will be the case some day with sufficient motivation throughout its length, but presently it’s a bottom-up effort to link together a massive collection of smaller walk-ways. Much of Te Araroa already existed, but the project (approaching 20+ years of effort) ensures that individual routes and walkways are connected and defined as part of the network. In places where there’s been no reasonably direct or useful connection between sections, access has been negotiated or built to complete the continuity.

    Being a bottom-up creation rather than a top-down creation, Te Araroa is not automatically a sparkly, consistent and necessarily easy-to-locate walkway for the entire length, despite ongoing efforts to improve it. What it does mean, however, is it’s actually possible to walk legally between any two places along the route with the exception of occasional bodies of water. At no place is it necessary to stop and get a bus, or drive a car between two points.
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  • Suggestion of Charging Overseas Visitors for National Parks

    The Otago Daily Times has recently been pushing a story (parroted in the NZ Herald) about a suggestion of charging tourists for entry to National Parks in New Zealand. A further ODT story from the same day (last Thursday) briefly interviewed several visitors tramping some of New Zealand’s Great Walks, and there’s also an ODT online survey requesting people’s opinions. The story’s also being followed by Queenstown’s Mountain Scene. (Update 13-Feb-2012: At the time of posting, it looks as if I missed this analysis from the Nelson Mail; Update 17-Feb-2012: Wilderness Magazine also has a look at this.)

    This isn’t a Department of Conservation thing, at least in any public way. The suggestion comes from the Ministry of Economic Development, as part of its briefing to the incoming Minister of Tourism, who just happens to be the country’s Prime Minister on this occasion. Such briefings are standard for most government departments after an election, reporting on their current state of affairs, even if their minister hasn’t changed. If you want to see the actual briefing, it’s available here. The relevant area is between about paragraphs 39 and 46, titled ‘Capturing greater value from international visitors’.

    It’s important to recognise that it’s nothing more than a suggestion at this point in time, and might easily amount to nothing. Personally I think it’s a bad idea. Something I find most attractive about New Zealand’s back-country spaces is that fundamentally they’re not run as money making tourism juggernauts, although that’s about what MED is suggesting should happen given that part of its proposal mentions taking advantage of people’s “willingness to pay”. Surrounding businesses and concessionaires do that by providing extra things on top, but the land itself is available to all for entry.
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  • A Crossing to Remember: A Tararua Southern Crossing in 1920

    Several days ago, I noted that it’s almost 100 years since the Southern Crossing Track was completed, which is pretty cool. This, however, was only the beginning of a significant tourism venture for both the Otaki and Wairarapa regions. At a time when the northern parts of the Tararua Range had barely been explored, the next phase of the project would be to market the walk across the southern end to potential tourists, convincing people that a visit to the Tararua Range could be a relaxing escape into the outdoors, away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

    Earlier, in 1907, Willie Field and Frank Penn (editor of the Otaki Mail) had combined with a botanist, Bernard Aston, to enthusiastically promote and raise funding for the cutting of the track. The track was completed in 1912, and committees were formed on both sides of the range to plan for building of huts specifically so that walkers could stay the night. The committee on the Wairarapa side was more successful in raising funding, with the original Alpha Hut complete by 1915 and Upper Tauherenikau Hut in 1917. Tramping clubs soon began to form—the Tararua Tramping Club (TTC) having its inaugural meeting in 1919 thanks to the efforts of Willie Field and Fred Vosseler. Young members of a fledgeling Victoria University Tramping Club were also exploring, with an allegedly less mature attitude than a more “refined” TTC.

    In 1920, to fan the potential of the Southern Crossing as a major tourist attraction, particularly for his own Otaki region, Frank Penn produced a 40 page booklet, forwarded by Fred Vosseler. The first part of the book was titled Across The Tararuas and explains the wonders of a Southern Crossing in detail and with photographs. The second part was titled Beautiful Otaki, and describes a history of the Otaki district. The complete book was designed as a marketing tool to entice tourists to visit the district, then to take advantage of the excellent railway transport on both sides of the range by walking the amazing route across the range between them. Scattered throughout the booklet, especially during the latter section, are a variety of enthusiastic advertisements for local holiday businesses and the New Zealand Government (“a holiday once a year is a good investment!”) Tourist Bureau.

    Across The Tararuas, the first half which I’ve reproduced below, is one of the very early comprehensive descriptions of a typical Tararua Southern Crossing in existence. The text is clearly written with a marketing intent, from the perspective of an anonymous protagonist being guided in a group by an anonymous guide. The wonder and glory of the Tararuas is expressed repeatedly, albeit with caution regarding how to react in situations of potential bad weather. It’s likely that the photos and descriptions are collected from several experiences. The remainder of the book, although not reproduced here in text, can be read via scanned pages in the gallery below. My personal favourite feature is the one digit phone number in the advertisement for the local Motor Garage and Livery Stables, on page 36. (Phone 7—Otaki.)
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  • Commercial Consents and Pest Control (watch that space)

    Maybe this is old news, but I was interested to discover tonight, through a press release of a speech last night, that the Parliamentary Commissioner of the Environment (PCE) is beginning an investigation into commercial use of conservation land.

    The PCE was in the news in June, at the release of an evaluation of the use of 1080 poison for pest control in New Zealand forests. The findings were very positive towards its use, and strongly encouraged a big increase in its use, as long as it were being done with due care. This inflamed criticism from some areas because 1080 poison is controversial in some communities, particularly parts of the hunting community.
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  • DoC announces its camping restrictions

    As was noted in this thread in the NZ Tramper forums (thanks madpom), the Department of Conservation has published its list of places where it prohibits “Freedom Camping”. Note that this list only relates to DoC land, and doesn’t include any local authority land on which freedom camping might also be prohibited under the Act.

    This list follows from the enactment of the Freedom Camping Bill, now known as the Freedom Camping Act, and which I’ve posted about previously [1] [2]. Among other things, the Act provides for DoC and for Local Authorities to issue instant fines for people found camping in places where camping has been prohibited or restricted, under the Act, by either DoC or the relevant Local Authority depending on who manages the land.

    As might have been expected, the DoC list is mostly composed of carparks, picnic areas and occasional lookout points, where DoC has supposedly encountered or has good reason to expect problems. This is consistent with the marketed intent of the Bill to give power for authorities to restrict tourist-style camping in problem spots. An odd exception to this list seems to be the inclusion of “Aoraki Mount Cook National Park (except at approved camping sites)”.

    Yes, DoC has actually stated that Freedom Camping is prohibited in The Entire National Park. [Update, 7th October 2011: Some helpful people at DoC have clarified a few things which I’ve noted in this comment.]
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  • That Freedom Camping Thing (Part 2)

    Following my post a few weeks ago regarding the Freedom Camping Bill (yuck! I hate that name!), I’ve finally gotten around to authoring my submission. Submissions are due on June 29th so if you have anything to say, you’ll need to be quick. You can submit directly online by following this link, and I think it’d be great if anyone with an interest did so. (I really don’t care if you agree with me or not, I just think it’s important that people’s views get considered.) You can view the Bill online at the New Zealand Legislation website.

    I’ve included my submission in the rest of this post. It was something of a rush job in the end, and I re-wrote about two thirds of it this evening having given myself a few more days to think. I hope it came out okay. [Update 7.55pm, 28-6-2011: There were a few grammatical and cut/paste errors towards the end that really annoyed me, so I made some small changes and resubmitted. Hopefully they’ll take the revised one instead.]

    Freedom Camping Bill Submission

    A submission for the Local Government and Environment Committee to consider in relation to the Freedom Camping Bill.

    This submission is based on the Freedom Camping Bill at its first reading.

    Thanks for the opportunity to submit on the Freedom Camping Bill.  I think the intent of the Bill is a good one, in that it aims to give local authorities and DoC the practical ability to police their own bylaws. That said, I also think some parts of the Bill need careful reconsideration.

    The concerns I raise relate to how current wording of the Bill might affect back-country tramping and (in particular) tramping clubs that presently spend some time camping on road-sides. This is despite the Bill’s introductory text which claims that it does not target back-country users. I also believe the wording includes some inconsistencies which should be clarified.
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  • That Freedom Camping Thing

    “Freedom Camping” is a term that’s been around for about as long as New Zealand’s been a popular international backpacking tourist destination. Along with its sibling term “Freedom Tramping”, the two typically refer to camping or tramping without the structure of a camp-ground or a guided walking company.

    I really hate both terms. The “freedom” prefix implies that camping and tramping aren’t already free and independent things to do. Camping and tramping were free and independent long before tour operators and journalists decided to explicitly label them as such, as if independence was a more novel thing than paying thousands of dollars to have a multi-day guided tour in an area that’s completely free to enter courtesy of New Zealand citizens. I’d much prefer that camping was camping and tramping was tramping, and that the operators and journalists could have adopted a novel term for what they do rather than what everyone else does. “Premium-priced guided walking” would have worked. Whatever.

    Sadly one of my two pet hate terms is about to be formalised into New Zealand Law, thanks to the incoming Freedom Camping Bill 2011, which was introduced to parliament a couple of weeks ago. Without this Bill being passed it’s only been possible for local authorities and for the Department of Conservation to pursue the annoying breed of Freedom Campers through courts, which is often far less practical than simply handing out fines (like parking tickets), and so its progression is much to the joy of a lot of local body authorities who should soon be able to police their areas more effectively. DoC and Internal Affairs published a joint Regulatory Impact Statement with reference to the Bill, which can be read here.

    It’s likely that the Bill will be pushed through fairly quickly because the government is keen to get it in before hoards of freedom-seeking transients arrive from overseas for November’s Rugby World Cup. Scanning through the text of the Bill, it seems unlikely that this law change will strongly affect back-country tramping experiences, but there’s some crossover potential and a few things to be aware of, perhaps even concerned about, which I’ve listed below.
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  • How the Cave Creek Accident shaped DoC

    If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you might have noticed me comment occasionally about ways in which the NZ Department of Conservation’s safety policies influence an experience in the back-country. I refer to things such as asset numbers being stamped everywhere, gratuitous warning signage, and removal of bunks from huts to comply with a law intended for urban environments. When I’ve discussed these issues with tramping friends, the Cave Creek Tragedy of 28th April 1995 has usually been cited as the reason, and it’s not so much a presumption.

    This Thursday will be the 16th anniversary of the Cave Creek Disaster. Besides the impact it had on many people and families, the accident also had a profound impact on DoC and its management of much of New Zealand’s outdoors. At the time it was the most serious accident to have occurred in modern times on the Conservation Estate, short of aircraft accidents. The implications were not shaped just by the accident itself, but in the numerous factors and fundamental faults in DoC’s design from the beginning. These flaws created a situation that would very likely have led to a serious accident sooner or later.

    From time to time I’ve met people (often from outside New Zealand) who needed explanation of what happened at Cave Creek. Despite having followed news at the time, and remembering bits from a television documentary that screened in 1998, I was also young when it happened. It’s only after trying to explain the significance of the event that I found I really didn’t know as much detail as I thought I did. Therefore I’ve tried to research things from (easily) available sources, and collated it here. I’ve attempted to present things accurately and hopefully opinionated bits will be easily distinguished. With a few exceptions I’ve removed names because I don’t think they’re relevant, but all of that should be fairly easy to discover for those interested. As always, I welcome any comments or corrections in the comments section.

    THE ACCIDENT

    In 1995, Tai Poutini Polytechnic continued to develop its Outdoor Recreation course for those wanting a career in outdoor pursuits, with training in a wide range of outdoor activities. 40 students took the course that year. To make things manageable they were split into two groups of 20. Between the 27th and 28th of April, Group A and then Group B would take part in a field trip meant specifically for non-recreational studies. In essence, it was a guided visit to the bush, to learn a few things and foster an appreciation of the environment in which they’d likely be working. This time they’d visit an area that included the Cave Creek Resurgence, and a platform located 30 metres above a chasm would allow viewing of the point at which Cave Creek emerged from an underground cave system (here it is on a map).

    On the day before the accident, Shirley Slatter, the Information Manager of DoC’s Punakaiki Visitor Centre, accompanied course tutor John Skilton and 20 students of Group A to the platform. As people stood on the platform, Ms Slatter thought she noticed it move slightly. This concerned her, and afterwards she managed to persuade Stephen O’Dea, the new manager of the visitor’s centre who’d not yet seen the platform, to return with Group B the following day and check it out. Ms Slatter even went as far to suggest that people probably shouldn’t be allowed to crowd onto the platform at once. It simply never occurred to her that the situation had been so serious, and for then at least she was content with reporting her concerns.
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  • A little about fundamental legal access to conservation land

    I have to mention just how glad I am that New Zealand parks aren’t subject to the same kind of bureaucratic mess that seems to have been occurring with National Parks throughout the USA over the past few days. In short, the US Congress has been having trouble reaching agreement on the budget, meaning the Federal Government may have needed to shut down for lack of funding. Among many other things, this suddenly put the immediate future of 394 National Parks throughout the USA is in doubt, along with all employees, the businesses and surrounding communities that relied on them. Thankfully this bureaucratic mess has been averted with an emergency budget now having been passed, but it wouldn’t have been unprecedented for such a shutdown to go ahead. Similar shutdowns occurred in 1995 and 1996.

    The USA’s a big place, and I imagine the real consequences vary from state to state, but I’m fairly sure that for fundamental legal reasons (detailed below), this kind of park closure crisis couldn’t easily happen in New Zealand at all.

    Some local examples of the USA’s National Park problems include:
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  • FMC Bulletins now available online

    Something I meant to write about a few months back (but became distracted) is the recent achievement of Federated Mountain Clubs in managing to get all of its FMC bulletins online, and available for download, all the way back to FMC Bulletin 1 of May 1957, when then-President Bill Bridge introduced the newsletter almost as an anti-climax.

    As of late last year, all older bulletins have been scanned from paper to PDF form, and the current online archive now contains 182 issues and is growing.

    The archive is available here, and a complete downloaded collection of bulletins from the beginning amounts to approximately 360 Megabytes. Most of the older bulletins are only photo-scanned at this time and thus aren’t text searchable with regular tools, but it’s still a great resource.

    This is awesome. It’s a great history of many things back-country in New Zealand, and browsing through the bulletins I’ve found it interesting to compare what made the issues of the day (mining, roads, dams, fears of user pays with Rogernomics and the new Department of Conservation, support for the re-naming of Mt Taranaki), and how the style has changed over the years. Accident Reports, for instance, were once presented in a somewhat more direct way (often naming names) than today’s bulletin’s Back-Country Accidents section.

    There’s a lot to get through, and I think the lasting benefit of this will be a large library of information on back-country issues now being more easily available when researching past events.