Call to boost outdoor education

One of the country’s largest recreational organisations is calling for a prioritising of outdoor education, new national parks, and a recognition of unformed legal roads.

Federated Mountain Clubs, which has a membership of more than 22,000, has launched its election campaign document urging all political parties to think deeply about outdoor recreation.

The group’s president, Jan Finlayson, of Geraldine, said this should include ramping up outdoor education in schools.

‘‘It’s about giving Kiwi kids the ability to have an outdoor education in their own backyard, so they can make the connections with their land. It’s already there in the national curriculum, but there’s nothing to stop expanding that.’’

Finlayson said Covid-19 was a chance to launch the group’s ‘‘Kiwishare’’ campaign, which began with prioritising hut bookings for New Zealanders, and ending ‘‘commercial creep’’ in public and conservation land.

‘‘It’s about actively fostering people’s connection to our backyard,’’ Finlayson said.

Federated Mountain Clubs president

She said the group was also calling for the affirmation of unformed legal roads.

‘‘We need to firm their purpose. They have the same status as State Highway 1, and should be treated as such,’’ Finlayson said.

‘‘They often give the only access to so much public land.

‘‘We want the Walking Access Commission to be in control of them.

‘‘One unformed legal road in the Mackenzie District alone runs through from Dog Kennel

Corner near Lake Tekapo, all the way to Lake Ohau, following the path of the Mackenzie bullock trail. It’s special and has historic value.’’

Finlayson said there also needed to be national strategies for both wilding conifers and kauri dieback.

‘‘For so long, the approach to both has been so piecemeal, which gets us nowhere,’’ she said.

‘‘There needs to be significant resourcing, so we can tackle the scope of these issues.’’

Although Finlayson said she was pleased with the Government’s increased funding of the Department of Conservation, she reiterated the need for the department to focus on fostering recreation.

‘‘Conservation, restoration, and local recreation are the new growth opportunities,’’ she said.

There was also an opportunity to create a new national park in the Remarkables, and a wild rivers park on the West Coast.

‘‘There’s an enormous bundle of stewardship land in the West Coast which currently has the lowest possible protection level,’’ Finlayson said.

‘‘It’s an exquisite landscape; it has more than 75 named glaciers and 3000 kilometres of river system, and more than 5000 square kilometres of wild country.

‘‘We would like to see it get the right classification and protection.

‘‘There is enormous recreational potential in that area,’’ she said.

‘‘It’s about giving Kiwi kids the ability to have an outdoor education in their own backyard, so they can make the connections with their land. It’s already there in the national curriculum, but there’s nothing to stop expanding that.’’ Jan Finlayson