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Report of Conservation Committee
The members of the Society's Conservation Committee have been in regular consultation during the year just closed, and have brought either before the Council or the Standing Committee several matters of national importance.
The most important of these was the completion and release of the Society's report on the use of powerful insecticides. Great interest has been shown in this report, and copies of it have been in constant demand.
The Committee brought before the Standing Committee a proposal that the Society should take action towards the preservation of the Aratiatia Rapids. The Standing Committee did not feel competent to pass an opinion on this matter, but suggested that the Convener might bring it up as a private matter at the November Council Meeting. This was done, and a resolution in support of the proposal was passed at that meeting, since which considerable newspaper publicity has been given to the Society's resolution throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand. As a result the Convener of the Conservation Committee has received support bv letter from many interested organisations and private individuals.
While travelling in the South Island in December the Convener of the Conservation Committee noticed that sheep were being grazed inside the Fiordland National Park, and that the greater part of the Eglinton Valley tussock flats had been either spoiled or destroyed by grazing. He also found in the Homer that raspberries had been planted and were spreading through one of the alpine gardens, and that a house had been built inside the National Park area in the Eglinton Valley. These matters were brought to the attention of the Standing Committee by the Conservation Committee at its February meeting, and it was resolved to send a letter to the National Parks Authority complaining of these matters, and to ask the Society's representative, Mr. F. R. Callaghan, to bring them forward at the next meeting of the National Parks Authority.
Continuation of the investigations on the spreading of litter in scenic reserves and similar places which was brought before the Council last year, is taking place, and the Conservation Committee is at present awaiting advice from the Department of Internal Affairs as to whether existing legislation gives sufficient authority for this matter to be taken in hand.
Following newspaper reports that baches were being erected in the Tongariro National Park, the Conservation Committee drew the attention of the Standing Committee to the undesirability of such activities inside National Parks This matter was also taken up at the meeting of the National Parks Authority by the Society's representative, and an assurance was obtained that the report in the newspapers was erroneous, and that the buildings referred to were housing for National Parks Authority staff members.
A request made by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources for a report on the preservation of indigenous land cover of New Zealand for presentation to the meeting of the International Union at Athens in 1958, which was originally directed to Dr. Oliver, was redirected to the Convener of the Conservation Committee. The Committee arranged for Mr. A. L. Poole, of the Forest Service, and Mr. D. A. Campbell, of the Soil Erosion and Rivers Control Council to contribute reports for forwarding to the International Union.
Supplementary Report. During the year the Conservation Committee brought to the notice of the Standing Committee the fact that sheep were being grazed in the Fiordland National Park as it is of the opinion that this is contrary to the best interests of the Park.
The Standing Committee approved of a letter being sent to the National Parks Authority. and also requested the Society's representative on the National Parks Authority, Mr. F. R. Callaghan, to bring the matter up at a meeting of the Authority.
A reply has now been received of which the following is an extract.—.
“At the recent meeting of the National Parks Authority the matters raised in your letter of 11th March were discussed Mr. Callaghan was, of course, present and took part in the discussion.
“I am unable, without further enquiry, to let you have my considered comments regarding the house on the Eglinton flats and the spread of raspberries near the Homer Forks, but the presence of sheep in the Park is well known to the Authority. Section 31
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of the National Parks Act, 1952, authorises the granting of leases or licences for grazing purposes over land within a National Park, and in 1954 the Authority approved the leasing of some 9,500 acres in the Eglinton Valley area for the grazing of sheep.
“One of the main reasons for granting this lease was to control the tussock lands in the open areas of the valley, along which camping grounds are situated. If these are not grazed a serious fire hazard could well arise. The grazing by stock considerably lessens the danger.
“As far as the presence of European grasses is concerned there is no doubt that they are in existence, but they were not deliberately sown. They were possibly introduced by stock.
“The National Parks Authority is conscious of its obligation to preserve all National Parks as far as possible in their native state, but at the same time it has an obligation to ensure that fire and other hazards are minimised as much as possible. In the circumstances pertaining to the Eglinton Valley region the Authority considers the granting of grazing rights reasonable”.
The Standing Committee referred this letter to the Conservation Committee who are unanimously of the opinion that the reply is unsatisfactory, and have suggested that the matter should be discussed at the meeting of the Council on May 22.
The Conservation Committee would point out that the grazing of tussock to prevent a fire hazard does not appear to bear critical investigation for the following reasons:
| (1) |
The annual rainfall for the Eglinton Valley almost precludes any danger of fire hazard. |
| (2) |
Fire hazard is far greater in the many miles of road traversing forest than it is in the small areas of tussock land. |
| (3) |
These tussock areas were, before grazing commenced, a feature of the Fiordland National Park and were one of the few areas in New Zealand where tussock in its native undamaged state was reasonably accessible to visitors. |
| (4) |
Tongariro National Park, which also has a high average rainfall has much larger areas of tussock which it has not been considered necessary to graze on account of any fire hazard. |
These points are further amplified in that:
| (a) |
Eglinton Valley has about 150 inches of rain per annum and about 200 rain days. Compare with Tongariro National Park's 106 inches of rain per annum and 185 rain days. |
| (b) |
It is doubtful whether there are 9,500 acres of flat tussock land in the Eglinton Valley, and the figures given by the National Parks Authority would suggest that mountain slopes and possibly the tops such as Key Summit have been opened to grazing. Members of the Committee would estimate that there would probably not be more than 1,000 acres of flat tussock land in the Eglinton Valley. |
| (5) |
If it is important that the Park should provide an income this could be better obtained by proper management of the forests. The beech forests receive no management at present and they are in poor shape. Proper selection and management would improve the standard of the forests and with the regeneration encoraged they would eventually prove a better and more lasting source of income than destructive grazing of the valley floor. |
| (6) |
The Eglinton Valley is the only valley of its kind within a National Park. On this account alone no risk whatever should be taken of prejudicing the survival of any part of it. |
The Conservation Committee wonders whether the grazing rights have been let in order to produce additional revenue to help in the maintenance of the rest of the Park. If this is so, the Committee considers that such action is contrary to the letter and spirit of the National Parks Act, and if such policies are allowed to go unhindered they may be adopted in all National Parks, which would then cease to be areas for the preservation of the native flora and fauna.
It is understood that grazing is also permitted in parts of the Arthurs Pass National Park. The Committee has not at the moment any knowledge of the actual areas involved, but here again considers that this action is wrong, and that it should be stopped.
The Committee recognises that the National Parks Board may need flat areas for recreational purposes within the Fiordland National Park, but even so the Conservation Committee is unanimously of the opinion that certain areas of tussock flats in the Eglinton Valley should be preserved intact, and that the matter should be pressed with the Authority
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until the grazing rights are rescinded and the sheep removed. If this is done immediately the damage to the tussocks, when seen by the Convener of the Conservation Committee in December last, although considerable, was not sufficiently far advanced to prevent the regeneration of the tussock flats as such.
J. T. Salmon,
Convener, Conservation Committee.