FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2010 Quality for Life Contents Introduction 1 Map of regional parks, forests and water collection areas 2 Projects 2009-10 3 Sustainable land use plans 4 Akatarawa Forest 6 Battle Hill Farm Forest Park 8 Belmont Regional Park 10 East Harbour Regional Park 12 Hutt River Trail 14 Kaitoke Regional Park 16 Pakuratahi Forest 18 Queen Elizabeth Park 20 Wainuiomata Recreation Area 22 Wairarapa Moana Wetlands Park 24 Water Collection Areas 26 Preparation for new parks 28 Cover 1. Great Outdoors Lighthouse and Lakes participants 2 2. Orchid Singularybas oblongus 1 3 3. Great Outdoors Harakeke participants 4 4. A new snail species was discovered in the Wainuiomata Water Collection Area eport R Introduction nnual nnual A Welcome to the Guided walks continue to be popular events in our parks with walks in East Harbour Regional Park, Kaitoke Greater Wellington Regional Park and the Wainuiomata Water Catchment Regional Council’s Area commonly requested. Regional Parks Annual Another activity that remained popular was the collection of natural resources and research with 19 permits being Parks egional Report, a publication R issued. All applications were given to iwi to consider. The that informs you of permits were for a range of activities including collecting the achievements and watercress, seismic research and plant propagation. issues in Wellington’s Schools involved in Greater Wellington’s Take Action programme (an environmental education programme network of regional aimed at Years 4-8) are frequent visitors to Battle Hill Farm parks and forests. Forest Park, Belmont Regional Park, Pakuratahi Forest, and the Wainuiomata Recreation Area. The students look at our parks’ streams and catchments and compare them to other areas that may be heavily impacted by human activity. However there was a significant drop in the number of visits to our parks and forests this year with 17% fewer than last year. We believe the main reason for the drop was the very poor summer weather this year. There are a number of areas within the parks network where ownership may transfer to Māori as part of Treaty of Waitangi settlement negotiations with the Crown. This year the parks network has seen the handing back of the lakes within the Parangarahu Lakes Area in East Harbour Regional Park to Māori. Other claims are progressing that may affect ownership of land within Queen Elizabeth Park, Whitireia Park and Wairarapa Moana Wetlands Park. Greater Wellington acquired 284 hectares at Baring Head for inclusion into the East Harbour Regional Park with A falcon in East Harbour Regional Park funding assistance from the Nature Heritage Fund, Department of Conservation, Hutt City Council and a private benefactor. This property is adjacent to the 11 hectare lighthouse block at Baring Head, which is already part of East Harbour Regional Park. Prior to the purchase of the additional land, the lighthouse block was only accessible via a right-of-way that did not permit public access. Greater Wellington is planning to open the Baring Head section of East Harbour Regional Park to the public in January 2011. Great Outdoors buggy walk in Queen Elizabeth Park 1 2 Regional park and forests map Otaki MT BRUCE (DoC) N Kiriwhakapapa Kapiti Island Otaki Waikanae Forks Paraparaumu TARARUA FOREST PARK Aka (DoC) Mt Holdsworth ta Castlepoint rawa Road Raumati Queen Waiotauru Road Elizabeth MacKays Maungakotukutuku Masterton Park Crossing Paekakariki Road WHAREROA FARM Hutt Water d (DoC) AKATARAWA a Collection Area o FOREST R l l i Waiohine H i Akatarawa Gorge k Carterton i r a k Forest a Karapoti k Kaitoke e Road REWA a Whitireia Park P Bull Run Road Regional Pakuratahi BUSH Battle Hill Park (DoC) (DoC) Marchant Road Mana Island Te Marua Farm Forest Bridge Road Rimutaka Titahi Bay Rail Trail Greytown Park Tulsa Park Onepoto Tunnel Gully Featherston Riversdale Belmont Rimutaka Porirua il Trig Track Cannons Regional a Tr Creek Park Dry Creek er Pakuratahi COLONIAL iv Lake Domain Takapu R Cross Creek KNOB Road Kaitangata t Upper Hutt Forest Hill Road Crescent t (DoC) Hu Stratton Street Wairarapa Oakleigh Belmont d oa Street R Moana Hutt Central e ak Cornish L Wetlands rn Street Lower Hutt te ROCKY es Martinborough W Lake Park HILLS Hikoikoi Wainuiomata Wairarapa Park (DoC) Hill Road Wainuiomata/Orongorongo Parera Road Lees Grove Water Collection Area Matiu/Somes Wairongomai Island Days Bay Ruamahanga River Wainuiomata Kowhai Street Burdans Gate Recreation Area Wellington East Harbour Barrage Pirinoa Road Gates Regional RIMUTAKA HIWINUI Park FOREST PARK FOREST Catchpool (DoC) Ocean (GW) Parangarahu Beach Lakes Area Lake Onoke STONEY Coast Onoke TAUANUI Road Spit CREEK Baring FOREST and parks Head FOREST (GW) (GW) R Putangirua Palliser Bay Pinnacles AORANGI egional FOREST forests PARK (DoC) TORA BUSH (DoC) 0 5 10 20 kilometres White Rock Cape Palliser eport Projects 2009-10 R nnual nnual A • There were an estimated 800,544 visits to our parks and forests over the past year – a drop of 17% from last year. We believe that Wellington’s poor summer weather was a significant factor in the lower numbers • A telephone survey of regional residents indicated that 53% of the population visited at least one regional park in the past 12 months, an increase of 1% from last year Parks egional R • The Great Outdoors summer events programme (formerly known as the Regional Outdoors Programme) was completed with 66 events attracting 12,234 people (a drop of 3,620 from last year). Total attendance at Greater Wellington led events was 4,730 – an average of 91 people per event • Our Parks “Friends” groups and other community groups remain heavily involved in the parks. The Green Shoots newsletter (a community newsletter produced by Greater Wellington) was published twice during the year and sent out to over 1,300 people and organisations • The monthly Sport Wellington Buggy Walks continue to be popular with around 2,475 mums, dads, grandparents and babies participating throughout the year. During the summer months, walks are held within the regional parks and led by park rangers. The winter series (June – September) tends to be urban-based • Greater Wellington, together with Hutt City and Upper Hutt City councils, received a “Highly Commended” award in the Outstanding Event category at the New Zealand Recreation Association’s national conference for the Bike the Trail event • At the inaugural Living Streets Aotearoa Golden Foot Awards, the monthly Sport Wellington Buggy Walks won the Small Project category • In 2009, the Draft Parks Network Strategy was presented to Council. This document outlined the vision, mission and principles for our regional parks. Subsequent to this, Council agreed to review the suite of management plans covering our parks and forests. In December 2009, Greater Wellington signalled its intent to prepare a plan and asked for public input into how the plan should be developed. The Greater Wellington Parks Network Plan - Draft will replace all current management plans for the regional parks (including Battle Hill, Belmont, East Harbour, Kaitoke, and Queen Elizabeth), the Pakuratahi and Akatarawa forests and Wainuiomata Recreation Area. The content of the strategy now forms part of the Greater Wellington Parks Network Plan - Draft. The Greater Wellington Parks Network Plan - Draft was released for public consultation at the end of May How much does it cost? Total Parks operational expenditure 2009/10: $6 million Expenditure attributable to each park is identified in the relevant sections 3 Sustainable land use plans Over the past two years, Greater Wellington has been developing sustainable land use plans for the farmed areas of the regional parks. This work has been driven by the general aim of the Regional Parks Network Management Plan to sustainably manage modified environments and by Policy 57¹ of the plan. Sustainable land use plans land Sustainable Developing a sustainable land use plan involves matching the land’s capability with land use. Land capability measures the land’s agricultural yield potential based on characteristics such as soil fertility and topography. The plan considers all factors that could have an impact on how Greater Wellington manages park land, eg how can we best facilitate public access? Are there landscape and heritage features on the land? Is there biodiversity needing protection? The first step in developing the plan involves mapping the land capability of areas that are currently being farmed. A map, such as the land use amalgamation map shown here for Battle Hill Farm Forest Park, is then developed. The map identifies areas that are ideal for farming and areas that may not be suitable because they are too steep, infertile or wet. Land use for activities other than farming – such as biodiversity, recreation and production forestry – can be overlaid on the land use amalgamation map and decisions made on the most suitable uses for different land types. Sometimes it may be best to retire an area of farmland, eg steep hill country, where greater benefits would be gained from biodiversity and waterways than would be possible from continuing to farm marginal land. The planning process to develop a sustainable land use plan involves talking to key stakeholders, such as officers from relevant territorial authorities, the Department of Conservation, iwi, farm leaseholders and Parks’ Friends groups. A sustainable land use plan has been developed for Battle Hill Farm Forest Park and plans are currently being developed for Belmont Regional Park and Whitireia Park². Work will begin in 2011 on plans for Queen Elizabeth Park and the farmed area of the recently-acquired Baring Head block at East Harbour Regional Park. 1. Policy 57 states that farming is to be allowed on regional parks where it contributes to the public use, enjoyment and educational potential of those parks, and that it needs to be consistent with objectives for protecting and managing natural and cultural resources of the parks, and with good land management practices.