FIRE WATCH

from Kenepuru Saddle and Torea Saddle, on the Kenepuru Sound side, had been identified as the highest fire risk.

‘‘This section is predominantly on a ridgeline with very few exit points and therefore, in the event of fire, it could prove difficult to remove walkers off the track quickly,’’ Lloyd said.

‘‘The major risk is a fire starting at the bottom of a hill on Kenepuru Sound side on a dry, hot, high windy day and moving to the top of the hill where the track is. A fire can travel at great speed.’’

Independent and freedom walkers and riders would not be allowed into the diversion area, which included campsites at Black Rock and Bay of Many Coves.

‘‘Guided walks with DOC concessionaires that meet the guide criteria will still be able to use this section of the track,’’ Lloyd said.

‘‘It is important to note that all other sections of the Queen Charlotte Track, Ship Cove/meretoto to Camp Bay, and Torea to Anakiwa, are not affected.

‘‘There has been a lot of work behind the scenes ... to ensure that visitors can still experience the track safely,’’ Lloyd said.

Alternative routes included the road between Punga Cove and Portage and a water taxi from Punga Cove.

Queen Charlotte Track chairman Rob Burn said public safety was paramount. ‘‘Once we’ve got that established, then we want to make sure we continue to provide a great experience for our visitors.

‘‘Most people that are coming to do the track will be more than well aware that the fire danger is extreme,’’ he said.

‘‘I could honestly say that I don’t think it would be a surprise that some diversions are in place, when our neighbours in Nelson Tasman have closed all their tracks.’’

A special emergency meeting was held in Marlborough on Monday to discuss potential fire risks, as farmers in South Marlborough called for a campsite A farmer with a string of environmental offences has won the right to sue Fonterra for more than $2 million for refusing to take his milk.

Philip John Woolley plans to sue Fonterra to recover losses from dumping his milk and paying out his sharemilker, after a court order stopped him from milking the cows at his Glenmae farm in Tuamarina, north of Blenheim, in 2014.

The Marlborough District Council got an order from the Environment Court to stop Woolley from using the milking shed from June 7, 2014, unless he got an engineer’s certificate approving the effluent pond as fitfor-purpose.

Woolley started milking the cows in breach of the order, which he was convicted for in 2015.

Fonterra’s sustainable dairying adviser sent Woolley a letter on June 18, 2014, saying the company could not collect milk that season unless the milking ban was lifted.

Woolley sent the council an engineer’s certificate on September 5, saying it was now fit-forpurpose, but Fonterra still refused to take the milk.

As a result Woolley was forced to dump milk into his effluent systems, and his contract milker terminated their agreement.

A High Court decision issued in December, 2018, said without Fonterra buying the milk, Woolley suffered ‘‘serious