Minutes of a meeting of the Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board held on Friday 21 August at the Canterbury Conservancy Office, 195 Hereford Street

1. Karakia Wiki Baker opened the meeting with a karakia.

2. Present and apologies

Board: Steve Lowndes (Chaiman) Wiki Baker Mandy Waaka Home Peter Foley Dr John Keoghan Joseph Hullen Mal Clarbough

DOC Staff: Richard McNamara (Area Manager Aoraki) George Hadler (Area Manager Raukapuka) Cheryl Colley Mike Cuddihy (part) Brenda Preston Steve Sharman (presentation) Kingsley Timpson

Public: Michael Sleigh (presentation)

Apologies: Jimmy Wallace Ines Stäger Rob Young Bryan Jensen Fiona Musson

3. Declarations of conflict of interest No conflicts of interest were declared.

4. Confirmation of minutes of 11 June 2009 The board discussed the format of the minutes and were asked if they were satisfied with the current format. Consensus was that the minutes provided a good a record to refer to at a later date.

Recommendation That the board confirm the minutes of the Board Meeting of 11 June 2009 as a true and correct record of that meeting. John Keoghan/Peter Foley Carried

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5. Matters arising from previous minutes Mal asked if minutes were on the website. Brenda said after the minutes are confirmed they are sent to be put on the website.

6. Late agenda items and any matters to raise from the board’s informal meeting

Kiwi crèche at Craigieburn Forest Park

Board members discussed the Conservation Trust’s proposal to establish a kiwi crèche in the Craigieburn Forest Park. Given the limit of great dpotted kiwi and the threat faced by the two neighbouring kiwi species, the Haast Tokoeka and the Okarito brown both of whose populations are both under 1000 each, the board believes it would better to address the conservation of both these species as well as the great spotted kiwi. Concern was also expressed regarding the commercial arrangement for funding and advocacy between the New Zealand Conservation Trust and Willowbank.

The question of whether or not Craigieburn Forest was the correct place to site a kiwi crèche was also discussed. Board members said that little pockets of native bush such as Lords Bush could be looked at. The main concern to the board is that the Craigieburn valley is not suitable habitat for great spotted kiwi as it is at the moment because it is predominantly beech forest.

Recommendation: That the Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board, in conjunction with the West Coast Tai Poutini Conservation Board, communicate by letter, its desire for the inclusion of incubation and crèche facilities specifically designated for Okarito brown and Haast tokoeka eggs, collected as part of Operation Nest Egg within the proposed New Zealand Conservation Trust kiwi facility at Craigieburn Forest Park. Joseph Hullen/Wiki Baker Carried

7. Section 4 matters No section 4 matters were raised.

8. Canterbury Conservator’s verbal report and update from Area Managers

Mike Cuddihy addressed the Board on the following matters:

Wild Animal Recovery Operators Process (WARO) Canterbury Conservancy is leading the national reissue of the 5 year wild animal control WARO permits. This is hunting for venison recovery and is a

Docdm-486295 2 two step process whereby the department puts out a framework for comment. A second set of WARO guidelines was produced on a CD that showed the land that was offered for this activity along with a draft concession that tidied up and strengthened some of the enforcement provisions which the department needed to deal with. Through that process people were invited to send in their views and the department received 105 submissions which covered the spectrum from recreational hunters through to helicopter operators and factories. Te Rūnanga has also been provided with the opportunity to comment as part of the department’s section 4 consultation. To date the department hasn’t received a Ngāi Tahu response.

Heli-hunting Heli-hunting is being treated as a separate activity that will be processed as publicly notified concessions.

Draft Aircraft Guidelines The department published the Canterbury pre-consultative Draft Aircraft Access Guidelines which offers a spectrum of zones in Canterbury for: – regular landings, – seasonal landings; through to – no aircraft access

Aircraft operators have realised that the new Aircraft Access Guidelines will have an impact on how they operate heli-hunting activities in the future. This has galvanised people to say whether or not this is going to have an impact on their industry and engage in discussion with the department.

Currently in its pre-consultative phase, the results of this work will eventually be included in the CMS when it is formally notified next year.

St James Discussion Paper Kaikoura Rūnanga was involved in the stakeholder field trip to St James and has been involved in discussions over the St James discussion paper. The document has been widely distributed and has also been provided to Te Rūnanga for comment.

The issue which has caught most people’s attention has been the horses and the intention to maintain a small managed herd of horses in the wild.

The other major issues the department has received feedback on are mountain biking and the proposed cycle track. Some of the issues which received the greatest interest were: – huts in the St James – fishing and aircraft access – wild animal control – the proposal to zone the top part of the St James closed to aircraft but the bottom part open.

The deadline for feedback concludes on 14 September.

Docdm-486295 3 Akaroa Harbour Marine Reserve Last week, the Minister of Conservation, Tim Groser, and department staff attended a meeting at Akaroa to look at the proposed Akaroa Harbour Marine Reserve.

The department and the Minister first met with the applicants and listened to their comments in support of the marine reserve application. This was followed by a visit to Onuku Marae to listen to the concerns of the local Rūnanga and recreational fishers.

Because this process had been ongoing for 13 years Tim Groser has made a commitment to provide a decision within the next 12 months. The department still needs to finish its report to the Minister and there is some work to do before that is completed. The report will then go to the Minister, who will read it, consider it, engage in whatever discussions he feels necessary and pass it onto the Minister of Fisheries for concurrence.

Lake Heron and the crossing An application for Resource Consent for the work to extend the road at Lake Heron to Harrisons Bight is currently with the Regional Council. Whether that will require a notification process or not is unknown at this stage.

The Conservation Economy Paper 2009/065 contains the basis of a speech given by the Director General of Conservation to a symposium in Dunedin. Mike Cuddihy suggested the board set aside some time to discuss the content of the Director General’s speech on the conservation economy at a future meeting. Mike said the basis of the paper’s premise is trying to get a better understanding of conservation which, as the Minister says, is “not simply a worthwhile social cost but an investment in the economy and healthy ecosystems” and the services they provide in an agricultural country like New Zealand which are the basis of our agriculture and the basis of our tourism.

St James Horses The Purchase Agreement for St James Station included an assurance that the stallions be removed and the mares left to live out their lives. Once that became public knowledge it was discussed in the media and the department subsequently received a number of representations in the form of letters and emails from people saying they got a lot enjoyment out of having a small herd of horses at St James. After re-examining the department’s original philosophy the decision was made to allow ninety horses to remain on the property as a managed herd.

Steve Lowndes referred to the department’s media release on the purchase and future management of St James Station. He said there were 17 bullet points which all seem to refer to recreation and economic benefit and almost as an afterthought at the end didymo and weed control are mentioned. Kingsley Timpson, Waimakariri Area Manager, said the media release was a response

Docdm-486295 4 to issues people were asking questions on but in no way should it be inferred that the natural values are any less important.

George Hadler – Raukapuka Area Office

Operational George Hadler, Area Manager Raukapuka reported on the Peel Forest Camp Ground upgrade. He said that staff are still working very hard to refurbish the motor camp at Peel Forest which is the only fully serviced campground managed by the department in Canterbury. One of the key aspects of the upgrade is converting the electric water heating to solar and gas which so that it meets the department’s sustainability goals. In addition, disabled facilities are also being provided at the motor camp.

Animal pests The key aspect of this work in the last two months has been the wallaby control in the Hunter Hills. That work has been carried out in conjunction with Twizel Area staff. Some vegetation monitoring has been carried out for thar in Carney’s Creek in the Havelock catchment.

Back country hut upgrade and maintenance Most of the huts requiring upgrade and maintenance have come out of Tenure Review on the former Mesopotamia Station land in the new conservation park.

Canterbury mudfish work at Dog Kennel Stream Staff have completed work on mudfish at Dog Kennel Stream which is adjacent to the Waitaki River near Waimate. A site has also been evaluated adjacent to the Arowhenua Marae with a view to translocating mudfish to that site.

Community Conservation week activities will take place between 13 – 20 September 2009. An opening ceremony will be held for the Sharplin Falls Track which was initially developed by volunteers and is a good example of this year’s conservation week theme ‘getting involved’.

The community has also been involved with the assessment of the future of the buildings at the Hakatere corner. These buildings came to the department through the purchase of Hakatere Station. The buildings have historic value, the stone cottage being one of the oldest buildings in Canterbury. The department is now assessing what to do in terms of managing those buildings into the future. Discussion is also ongoing in relation to the skifield buildings where the department proposes setting up a community trust to manage them into the future.

Statutory Land Management and the RMA Role Seven concessions were processed since the last board meeting, three of which were for grazing. Those grazing licences were associated with public conservation land adjacent to the Waitaki River.

Docdm-486295 5 Nine Resource Management Act applications were responded to. Most were associated with water issues. Six responses were made to LINZ in relation to the Crown Pastoral Lands Act where the department has a role in making comment on Crown Pastoral land.

Infrastructure and staff Raukapuka Area staff are planning to mark out the recreational access ways into Redcliff Station in the . This property has just come out of the LINZ tenure review process and will be settled very shortly.

Planning is also underway for the administration, management, and monitoring work involved in the new access road at Lake Heron to Harrisons Bight.

George reported that Raukapuka Area office has received seventeen applications for the ranger position biodiversity/weeds at the Raukapuka Area office.

John Keoghan expressed an interest in finding out which DOC staff are familiar with the Manahune Station and the tenure review process there. The board had some concerns about what had been said about some of this land, for example, that a specific piece of land is essential for the future management of the station when it is freeholded. If the land has never been farmed as a freehold property before, intensively and with modern technology, how can you say what is essential? George said that the public process for people to provide comment will be advertised through the newspapers. Brenda will pass this on to Mike Clare for comment.

The board reiterated its belief that the extension of the Lake Heron track to Harrisons Bight is totally unnecessary and that the gate access should remain closed and the whole thing should be dropped. George said that same message is starting to reiterate itself among certain sectors of the community but not all of the community. There has been some comments made to Environment Canterbury in recent weeks that people still have concerns about the consent the department has applied to complete the inlet crossing.

Recommendation That the board endorse the concern regarding the extension of the road at Lake Heron to Harrisons Bight and inform the Minister, with a copy to the Associated Minister and the Director General and ask Forest and Bird (mid- Canterbury Branch) to support the Conservation Board. Peter Foley/Stephen Lowndes Carried

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Richard McNamara – Area Manager Aoraki Aoraki Mt Cook Area Office has just advertised five temporary positions and sent out over 60 information packs to prospective applicants. That might mean they all want to come and work for the department but a more likely explanation is the economic reality of the time.

Kingsley Timpson – Area Manager Waimakariri

St James Station Kingsley showed the board some photos of St James Station and pointed out some relevant points on the property.

Waimakariri Office is also dealing with some Crown Pastoral Lease assessments. This is primarily a LINZ process and that DOC is not the decision maker. LINZ subcontracts to DTZ who carry out conservation assessments on activities a leaseholder may wish to carry out.

At Lake Coleridge there are some issues associated with adjoining pastoral leases and a number of baches at the head of the lake. Some of the baches are on Glenthorne Station and some are on Trust Power land. Ryton Station and Glenthorne Station have recently been purchased by the same person. The Overseas Investment Office made a number of recommendations in its report, one being that the baches were to be removed as a condition of the sale proceeding. Staff are working with locals to resolve some of the tensions caused by this.

Trust Power has agreed to provide an area for some informal camping.

Biodiversity The four juvenile great spotted kiwi released into Riccarton Bush Reserve are doing well and will be released back into the wild in October. Several school groups have become involved with the project.

Feedback from the community had been absolutely stunning with some really positive messages coming through.

BNZ has agreed to fund Operation Nest Egg for the next three years. Waimakariri currently has 13 pair of kiwi in the Hawdon Valley with transmitters on them. The target number is 50 pair. There is already quite a substantial population of great spotted kiwi in the Hawdon valley with the potential for more kiwi territories on the front faces. The pest work being carried out in the Hawdon is having a good spin off for kiwi and with the removal of predators kiwi can look after themselves pretty well.

It is proposed to release 40 additional mohua [the little bush canary] into the South Branch of the Hurunui. The birds will be sourced from the Catlins, captured in the wild, transported and released. Apart from 12 birds having transmitters attached to them little monitoring will occur.

Docdm-486295 7 Orange-fronted parakeet Rat numbers in the Hawdon valley have exceeded the 5 percent threshold which is considered too high for the continued survival of the orange-fronted parakeet.

In the non-treatment area around the Hawdon rats are currently tracking at 36 percent. In 2000/2001 when rats were tracking at around 10 percent nearly all the orange-fronted parakeets were lost.

In the treatment area rats are tracking at 9 percent and are at levels where the department is concerned their numbers may increase. Even if they stay at 9 percent through the summer it will mean a big hit on orange-fronted parakeet, so in the next month DOC staff will be completing an aerial 1080 operation to knock the rats back down.

In the Poulter, which is only one catchment away, rat numbers are at 1.3 percent, and in the South Branch they are at zero so it is interesting how these local masts can run.

9. Reports requested by the board

9.1 Report from Raukapuka on Ō Tū Wharekai George said unless there were any question he had already covered this issue

9.2 Update on Lake Heron Road extension George said that unless board members had questions he had already covered this issue. John reminded everyone that there would be a planting at Lake Heron on 23 September. George said there were a number of community initiatives on Ō Tū Wharekai. Brenda will check this and send details to board members.

9.3 Update on St James public consultation process

10 Presentations

10.1 Presentation on covenants – Steve Sharman

This presentation covered the who, what, how and where of private land protection and a copy is available on request.

10.2 Presentation on proposal for – Michael Sleigh

Michael Sleigh the Managing Director for Porters Ski Area presented a proposal to expand Porters Ski Area.

After looking around New Zealand’s ski areas the directors of Porters Ski Area realised that there is nowhere in New Zealand to stay on mountains in modern accommodation and that is the single biggest reason Australian skiers don’t come back to New Zealand. Overseas visitors find New Zealand’s

Docdm-486295 8 mountain roads terrifying and the fact that they have to drive up and down the mountains every day when they are here puts them off.

A number of opportunities have been identified to develop Porters Ski Area into a similar sized area to including the development of Crystal Valley, an area adjacent to the existing ski area, for family skiing.

There is also an opportunity in parallel with this development to do some ecological restoration work in Porters valley. The valley once would have been vegetated with beech forest up to the snow line, so as part of redeveloping the field they also want to instigate a proper restoration programme with beech planting which would have a beneficial effect on the ecology, appearance and for holding snow in lower areas.

The exchange proposal

Porters is a 780 hectare piece of land under a perpetual ski lease which is a bit like a pastoral lease with the terms amended.

A number of investigations have been carried out by consultants over the last three years. A group of directors and staff, including Uli Dinsenbacher, the General Manager of Porters, travelled overseas to interview ski area designers who specialise in analysing ski areas and identifying possibilities. Through this process the small corner where the existing ski club and staff quarters site were identified as a possible site for a small on mountain village with accommodation servicing the ski areas and those proposed for Crystal Valley.

This was discussed with staff from the Department of Conservation and it was suggested that one idea was to look at a land exchange, one that would be beneficial on a conservation basis and which would achieve the ski area’s aims.

Lords Bush

After searching for some time a small farm of 17 hectares appeared on the market right next door to Lords Bush Scenic Reserve. After completing some further research Michael approached the department’s ecologist, Nick Head who was very excited about the proposal. Together they looked at the soils and the aspects and decided there is some potential.

The proposal is that Porters would give the land to the department and take operational responsibility for restoring the land and Lords Bush.

Porters is also keen to establish an environmental trust whereby every ski ticket sold at Porters would see $1 go to a Trust that would be established to provide money for restoration work at Porters for tree planting. It is hoped this will also attract community involvement.

There are also plans to plant tōtara, matai, kahikatea and flax close to the creek that runs through Lords Bush, and also install some walking tracks, and a picnic spot.

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10.3 Presentation on the development of a long term community plan for Aoraki – Richard McNamara, Area Manager

Richard McNamara reported that Warren Murphy, the department’s Principal Business Analyst, decided that the department should look at the wider context and adopt best practice in local body governance by undertaking a long-term community plan for the village.

Stakeholders have also had input, both individually and in groups, to both the department and Price Waterhouse, who were employed to run the process.

Because allegations were made that the department hadn’t been running to best practice when charging stakeholders for the cost of infrastructure Price Waterhouse were also asked to examined the department’s past practices. They confirmed that the department’s model for charging wasn’t too bad at all, in fact it was quite good, but it is also quite complicated.

There is a much simpler way apportioning charges through a user charges model using water meters to determine how much water is going in and the cost of managing the sewerage system, i.e. measuring water in/water out.

The Price Waterhouse report was sent to Morrison and Lowe, a New Zealand firm that specialise in small local body management. Morrison and Lowe peer reviewed the advice provided by Price Waterhouse and endorsed it.

The document explains what the department does, how it does it, the performance standards that need to be met, how much time it will take and what it is going to cost. It also gives people a very clear idea about what the department actually does as a local body. There is $8 million worth of infrastructure in the village and when people read this they say “I didn’t actually think the department did all that”. It costs the department around $750,000 per annum to run the village and with an expected inflation rate of 3%, by the end of the 10 year plan, it will cost just under $1 million per annum to run the village.

The New Zealand taxpayer pays roughly half the cost of the assets. Of the remaining 50 percent the department is also included in the model as a stakeholder. Of the remaining 50 percent the Hermitage paying roughly 80 percent for all its business, the department pays 10 percent and all the other businesses pay 10 percent each.

11 Land

11.1 Kirkliston Tenure Review No discussion took place.

11.2 Regional Pest Management No discussion took place

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12 Visitor Management and Concessions

12.1 Concession applications

(a) Concession application by Hassle Free Tours for access across public conservation land and waterways These were comments prepared on behalf of the board by Ines Stager. No discussion occurred.

(b) Concession application by Paardekoopers and Associates Ltd Development Training and Corporate Events – route of the Mount Terako Challenge. These were comments prepared on behalf of the board by Ines Stager. No discussion occurred.

12.2 Status of Concession Applications before the Board The board received the paper.

13 Planning

13.1 Board comment on the department’s guidelines for air access The board expressed concerned about the cumulative effects of air access. It seems that at some point there is a need to have some understanding of these effects otherwise it will end up rather like RMA where development takes place piecemeal and then everyone suddenly asks what happened to the green belt.

Discussion took place on whether a ceiling should be placed on aircraft numbers. Cheryl invited the board to raise these questions when commenting on the Aircraft Access Guidelines, so they could be provided with answers.

Steve said he would alert Ines as convenor of the Planning Committee to provide a response on the department’s Air Access Guidelines.

13.2 Main Power’s appeal against the decision of the Hurunui District Council to reject the proposal to establish a wind farm on the Mt Cass ridgeline.

The board discussed this at its informal meeting and a note was made that Main Power’s response was just fiddling with the deckchairs.

Canterbury Conservation Management Strategy Place Section 2.7 Lake Sumner, Lewis Pass and St James – Poma Palmer.

As the paper was not forwarded to board members Poma Palmer introduced it but postponed any discussion amongst board members to another date. A whole day’s workshop is to be planned for November.

Docdm-486295 11 Progress report on the CMS

The Lake Sumner, Lewis Pass and St James place section is now on the website.

Aircraft Access Guidelines Poma said that the Canterbury Aircraft Guidelines are on the website. They are out for public comment and the results of that work will be taken into the aircraft section of the CMS. The hard word is now going onto staff to give a higher priority to completing remaining chapters so things are proceeding quite well at the moment. Maps – Ian Grover in the department’s information section has started work on all the maps and they are of a very high quality.

Public participation That has slowed down a bit because of the delays caused by the water strategy. Notices are now being sent out and meetings with regular liaison groups are starting again. A Southern Associates meeting will be held on Monday.

The Lake Sumner, Lewis Pass and St James Place Section The idea of a ‘place’ based on Lewis Pass came from John Keoghan during an early board discussion and we went with that. It has been extended to include all of the Lake Sumner Conservation Park, the Lewis Pass Scenic Reserve and then St James Station and also picks up on other conservation areas and reserves and it is virtually everything north of Arthur’s Pass National Park.

The ‘place’ covers the whole area and the intention is to give an integrated look to this area rather than focussing on bits. The key is not to just focus on St James because the boundaries of St James don’t really bear any real resemblance to ecological boundaries or public use boundaries.

The structure of the ‘place’ section is much like the Conservation Forest Parks place. It sets out the future outcomes, directions and policies on vehicles, both off road and mountain bikes, horses, vehicles etc. Any board comments on the St James paper are to be sent to Poma.

Some discussion has occurred around what the future status of this land will be. Forest and Bird has made a request to the New Zealand Conservation Authority that they consider putting the St James land through a section 8 of the National Parks Act process to look at national park status for St James. If you are talking about status for this area then you need to consider at all the various bits of conservation land in the area and perhaps after people have become familiar with the area over the next 10 years of the CMS a status review can then be carried out.

The Lake Sumner Forest Park has the Lake Sumner Recreational Hunting Areas within it [everything in dark green on the map]. There have been indications given in the past that recreational hunting areas could be extended to the east to pick up some of these blocks. What does a recreational hunting area do nowadays? In the past it has kept commercial aircraft and hunters out of the area. There is provision in the Act for all sorts of monitoring and

Docdm-486295 12 management plans. There was an initial management plan completed but nothing else has been done by the department or the deerstalkers themselves on monitoring. There have been no reviews of the management plan and you could argue today that a statutory status for a recreational hunting area is surplus and you can control it if you wish to control aircraft use, through the Aircraft provisions in the CMS.

The Hurunui irrigation dam proposal which involves the current proposal for a weir on the outlet of Lake Sumner and a dam on the South Branch of the Hurunui is entirely on conservation land other than the bit that is in the riverbed itself and the land that would be flooded more often than what it is at the moment is partially conservation land. The question of whether policy is set in the CMS to guide the department’s thoughts about a weir on Lake Sumner arises?

Poma said it is interesting when you look at the Hurunui proposal from the point of view of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy. The Hurunui proposal seems to be contrary to the Water Management Strategy which says that there is probably no need to dam a main stem river in Canterbury to deliver the irrigation water that you need.

The other thing which pops up through this place section is Loch Katrine and the Loch Katrine illegal baches which are still sitting there. It was hoped that this issue would be resolved by now. The bach owners got a concession to build an approved facility that would also be available to the public but they may be experiencing financial problems. They are now saying they are not going to move out of the huts. If progress had been made on getting rid of the huts under the Loch Katrine Management Plan, the plan was to be revoked and any necessary mechanisms included in the CMS. Poma said the Plan still has a lot of useful information and background in it and it might be useful to hold onto it for a while and simply support it with the CMS rather than to redo it. That will avoid us having to re-litigate any of the things in the Plan.

Once the St James discussion document process has been completed some decisions may be fed back into the CMS Place Section. A decision on the future of the horses one may be contentious and even if a decision is made through the discussion document to allow horses then either the Canterbury Conservation Board or the New Zealand Conservation Authority are going to want to have a say in it through the CMS process. Poma has advised the conservator of that.

The key point about the St James area is that it is very accessible, it is user friendly, you don’t tend to have big rivers, there are a lot of facilities in there, you can get up onto the main divide very quickly from the summit of Lewis Pass. It has a history of hunting and a strong history of public use through things like the Boyle Lodge which is probably one of the most popular and well used school facilities in Canterbury. Then there are the Deerstalkers Lodge, the Forest and Bird Lodge, and Hanmer on the doorstep. The model Hurunui District wants for Hanmer is not another Queenstown, they want a place that caters for the people they are currently catering for. There is room

Docdm-486295 13 for people to be based at Hanmer and move out into these conservation areas which is where St James is going to be handy. A ski field is also available on St James, and a scenic highway runs through it. It is not one of the top scenic state highways in terms of domestic or international tourist use but it does get plenty of use.

Steve advised that Kay Booth had requested a delegation of authority for the part of Molesworth Station that is included within Canterbury Conservancy’s boundaries. Steve asked if there is any problem with that? Poma said no, it is an example of the same sort of arrangement that Canterbury has with Arthur’s Pass where the Canterbury Board oversees the running of the entire Arthur’s Pass National Park for the purposes of writing the Arthur’s Park National Park Management Plan. Steve commented that there would need to be a huge amount of consistency between the plans.

Poma said there are a few other issues such as the locked gate at Loch Katrine which allows access by key and is an attempt at gaining some degree of control over vehicles going up into the Hurunui. It is very debateable about how successful that gate has been. It has been vandalised, destroyed and rebuilt many times. A discussion needs to centre around whether the gate should be there at all or whether there are other means of controlling public use.

Steve thanked Poma for his presentation.

13.3 Upper Waitaki Water Consents This paper will be emailed to board members.

13.4 Board comments on the Taxon Plan for great spotted kiwi/roroa (Apteryx haastii) The board would access more information before providing comment.

13.5 West Coast Tai Poutini Conservation Management Strategy Each board member has received a disk containing the Strategy. Brenda said the West Coast board hoped that the Canterbury Board could provide comment as soon as possible after its meeting.

Board members felt the West Coast Strategy was highly descriptive, very interesting and a comprehensive document.

Steve asked John to respond with some bullet points to start off an email discussion on this document. Steve pointed out that Kay Booth had asked for comments by Monday.

13.6 Speech from the Director General on conservation and the economy The conservator covered this in his update to the Board. Mike Cuddihy referred to this earlier and some time will be set aside at a subsequent meeting to discuss this in more depth.

Docdm-486295 14 13.7 Proposed amendment to the Aoraki Mount Cook National Park Management Plan Aoraki Mt Cook Area Office has a problem with the Tasman Road both from an operational point of view and from a management point of view. For the last 4 – 5 years the road has been carrying far more traffic than a gravel road is supposed to carry. It is costing the Area Office $80,000 a year to maintain it as a gravel road. The NZTA has a risk structure that states how high a risk has to be before a road has to be realigned or tarsealed and this road is above that level. The reason for this is that over the years the traffic loads on the Tasman Road have been increasing. The type of traffic has also changed with an increasing number of buses using the road and a large number of campervans. These campervans aren’t driven by experienced drivers, they are generally driven by overseas tourists who are not experienced on New Zealand roads. The road also was never designed to carry the volume of traffic it is now carrying. The Tasman Valley Road is listed by NZTA as a special purpose road which means they would fund any alterations to the road. The initial plan was to tar seal the road either side of the bluff and leave the bluff sections alone. The department’s independent engineer and NZTA’s engineer said all the department is doing by tar sealing it is increasing the speed of the traffic coming into the bluffs and increasing the risk of accidents on the bluff sections.

Widening the existing road on the bluff sections would create a lot of geological and ecological problems. From an engineering point of view it is virtually impossible because it would substantially weaken the slopes above. From an ecological point of view it would be unsustainable because all you would do is create a large scar across the landscape. The option then is to move the road down onto the lower terrace. The engineers said from an engineering point of view it is fine. The department has now engaged some independent advice around flora and fauna and any ecological effects on the lower terrace.

One options is to leave the bluff sections of the existing road in order to separate the increasing amount of foot and bicycle traffic on that road. All the advice the department has received to date leads staff to believe that the best option is that the road should go down onto the lower terrace. The department does need to make sure that the environmental issues are understood and has engaged the department’s botanist, Nick Head to assist with this process.

Steve said that he sees in one paragraph that if this went ahead the department you would have to increase the size of the car park. He asked what other flow on effects would be felt in terms of increasing the capacity for people around the lake. Mac said the car park itself is very small and only takes around 12 to 20 cars. It was never designed to handle the bus traffic it is now managing. The area would be widened to allow buses a suitable turn around and a drop off point as well as the provision of more car parks. The fact is that the road is being over used and is far in excess of the NZTA guidelines.

John Keoghan asked if the engineers had considered designing the road to ensure that traffic slows down. Richard responded that traffic calming slow

Docdm-486295 15 points had previously been included in the Hooker Road to good effect and would also be included on the Tasman Road.

Steve questioned Mac about the long term and whether he is happy with the consequences of doing this work and where it is all going and the extension of the track to the lake to give access to concessionaires. The board is concerned about the big picture and whether it is appropriate for this work to be carried out and where the end to all this is.

Recommendation: That the Board endorse the department’s decision to upgrade and realign the Tasman Valley Road and enlarge the car park to provide buses with a safe turning area.

Steve Lowndes/Wiki Baker Carried

14 Water

14.1 Canterbury Water Management Strategy The board noted the update provided by Poma Palmer in Board Paper 2009/ on the Water Management Strategy.

15 Matters of general business There were no matters of general business.

15.1 Progress on Conservation Board Awards Wiki said the board judging panel has narrowed the nominations to two and will inspect those next Wednesday and on Thursday after which they will make a decision on the winner.

16 Correspondence

16.1 Inward correspondence 16.2 Outward correspondence The board received the inward and outward correspondence.

17 Administrative matters 17.1 Financial report Steve said this report is based on the first month of the financial year and is something the board will keep an eye on.

17.2 Conservation board annual report. There were no items for correction.

17.3 CMS reporting

Steve said he would ask Ines to lead a response on the Canterbury Conservancy’s CMS implementation report.

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Delegation for Nelson Marlborough Conservation Board for the Molesworth Management Plan

Recommendation: That the Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board grant the power to the Nelson Marlborough Conservation Board to make any necessary decisions in relation to that part of the Molesworth Station that lies within Canterbury Conservancy, for the purposes of the Molesworth Management Plan. John Keoghan/Joseph Hullen Carried

Recommendation: That the Board endorse the actions of its Visitor Management Concessions Committee as set out in board papers: 2009/057; and 2009/058.

That the Board endorse the actions its Planning Committee, as set out in board papers 2009/060; and 2009/063.

That the Board endorse the actions of its Land Committee, as set out in board papers 2009/055.

That the Board endorse and confirm that the material contained in its Annual Report for 2008/2009 is a true and accurate record as set out in board paper 2009/071 Steve Lowndes Carried

Recommendation That the Board receive information as set out in board papers; 2009/052;2009/053; 2009/054; 2009/059; 2009/064; 2009/065; 2009/066; 2009/067; 2009/070. Steve Lowndes Carried

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Public Forum

Lesley Shand addressed the Board on the St James proposal and the Aircraft Access Strategy. Lesley said she hoped very much that this board would push for a section 8 of the National Parks Act for St James. She said the reason you would do this is it is a chance to understand and investigate the natural values of St James. It is vital that the values that it was bought for are protected and like the wine growers of Marlborough, which were on the news today, St James is quality not quantity that we should be looking at.

The ecological services are high capital input so we don’t need to get lots of mini money to equate with that.

The aircraft – when the people are flying, yes they love it, but the people below look up and say “oh god lawnmowers in the sky yet again”. I’m begging you to be very, very restrictive where you let the aircraft fly onto St James. You will completely ruin the experience for those below because they are finger valleys largely and the noise will be horrendous, as it is in the Lewis Pass National Reserve. The mountain bikers and the trampers need to be kept separate but that is another thing but the aircraft don’t go well with users below.

Lesley thanked the board and said she hoped very much that the board would push for a section 8 of the National Parks Act investigation because it will allow you to know the values. The values haven’t been adequately studied. The aircraft – fantastic for those who are in them but absolute hell for those who are on the ground. You won’t get the use on the ground if you have the aircraft. I know I avoid the areas that have the ‘lawnmowers in the sky’.

Steve thanked Lesley and said on behalf of the board that the board is very aware of aircraft activity.

Lesley thanked John and said she believed that you could have aircraft going into that little range that is just beyond Hamner and that a lot of people could get a lot of pleasure from going along that boundary. The southern area which is degraded by weeds – that’s where the aircraft should be and then the northern boundary can be protected and I don’t think you will get the money out of aircraft that you will out of the bikers and others who stay in Hanmer.

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Fred Murray addressed the Board on the department’s decision to extend the road at Lake Heron to Harrisons Bight.

He said the decision was reached in opposition, contrary to quite a bit of evidence the board produced at the time, primarily relating to historic use. Subsequently, that decision was the object of a complaint to the Ombudsman by the Ashburton branch of Forest and Bird so the decision was withdrawn and the West Coast conservator, Mike Slater was engaged to reassess the issue. Mike Slater was then provided with a wealth of information by the Conservancy which was not available at the time that the initial

Docdm-486295 18 decision was made. He had reports on the ecological values of the lake, recreational values, cultural archaeological and historic heritage, visitor monitoring results, CMS analysis, Lake Heron shoreline unformed legal road easement etc., 59 pages in all.

Mike Slater subsequently produced a report which came out almost a year ago and in his decision he expounded very effectively all the natural values and ecological assets of Lake Heron and its surroundings and finished up saying “However we can still let motor vehicles go on a bit further because the historic level of motor vehicle use which is determined not to be more than 2 vehicles at any one time on a calm summers day that that level of interference would have no effect on the ecological values and on that basis the Area Office has gone ahead with the proposed construction to facilitate that vehicle access”.

Fred obtained got a copy of the Resource Consent Application and discovered that the proposed access method is via a causeway which looks as if it is going to be below the level of the surface of the lake for quite a substantial part of the year – He had no statistics on how often that would occur but said it is certainly going to be below the lake level often enough that it is considered necessary to have poles in each side of it so vehicles can drive along it without driving into the lake. You’ve got a causeway that is a long, long way from the nearest tar sealed road and you are going to have vehicles going in there along a dusty road it is dry and along a muddy road in the wet and what is on the surface of the vehicle washes off into the water.

He then decided to go through Mike Slater’s decision and found a huge gap in his decision which is primarily that despite all the evidence on the ecological values of the road extension there is absolutely nothing related to the ecological values of the lake itself to which the inlet is connected for a large part of the year. Fred then wrote a letter to the Director General.

He received the Director General’s reply yesterday. He said there are the problems with the initial decision which doesn’t look at the ecological values of the lake and the lake is an ecological refuge, not the bits around the hillsides. Fred said he doesn’t believe that the Nature Heritage Fund would have been quite so likely to have bought the land if it wasn’t for the Wildlife Refuge in the middle of it. So there are issues with the decision, there are issues with the implementation of it.

He said the fact that motor vehicles will be able to wash themselves in the lake on the way to their fishing spot seems pretty daft. He pointed out other issues harking back to the issue of the perceived historical use being a maximum of 2 vehicles at any one time on a calm day in the middle of summer. The petition at the store, generated 1300 signatures from people all wanting to drive around towards Highbank. The decision did not say at what point between the 2 vehicles at any one time and the 1300 people that want to go there what level of vehicle use is going to affect the values of the Wildlife Refuge. The closing paragraph of the submission was quite explicit that the extension of access should only go ahead if user groups acknowledge that there will be no vehicle access to the edge of the lake beyond the Swinn River; so no boat launching beyond the Swinn River. Fred thought that was quite explicit and emailed George Hadler to find out what consultation had taken place. George Hadler responded that provision of vehicle access is based on Mike Slater’s final report; no

Docdm-486295 19 boat launching provisions beyond the inlet. He has not had any adverse comment from the public regarding this alteration and believes it has been generally accepted.

Fred said he believes there is a big difference between not objecting to a paragraph that is buried in a report on the DOC website and the explicit agreement of up to 1300 people that want to drive around there that they are quite happy that there will be no boat launching beyond the lake inlet.

He also raised the issue of the department’s management of off road motor vehicles on conservation land. This morning Poma said the Loch Katrine gate isn’t working all that very effectively and Mike Slater’s report was quite clear that a gate that is going to have to be administered by Department of Conservation staff. This is the most costly way of doing it and it would be better to get agreement of Fish and Game which ties into getting agreement to the no boat launching beyond the inlet. He has pointed out to the Director General that the department is currently unable to control the antics of motor vehicles once it lets vehicles into an area of conservation land.

Fred said that is logical that if people don’t have access to a piece of land and you can’t control them once you let them in, why the hell let them into anywhere they are not already. He added that the Director General confirmed in his letter that Canterbury Conservancy is investigating the best mechanism for introducing bylaws so that vehicles found off or beyond identified managed vehicle tracks can be subject to prosecution and he strongly support that.

The Director-General’s letter went on to say that the department’s challenge is to provide for and effectively manage a range of visitor recreational activities. “Effectively manage” – and he has just said he can’t manage it so there is a whole can of worms here; the decision has got holes in it; the implementation has got holes in it.

Fred requested that as a first step he requests that the board have a look at the whole saga, go carefully through Mike Slater’s decision, see if it is the right mechanism for protecting the values of the Wildlife Refuge and then have a look at the how the implementation stacks up to the way the decision.

Steve thanked Fred.

Recommendation That the board endorse the concerns of Fred Murray regarding the extension of the road at Lake Heron Road to Harrisons Bight and we inform the Minister and copy the Assistant Minister and the Director General and ask the Mid- Canterbury branch of Forest and Bird to support the Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board. Peter Foley/Joseph Hullen Carried

Peter Foley will write the letter and circulate it in draft form to board members before it is sent to the Minister.

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