YOUR VIEWS
Clarify or retract
In your article on page 5, January 19, about the Waikanae Estuary Scientific Reserve, DOC ranger Steve Bielby is quoted as saying “there is no formal management plan in place for the Waikanae Estuary Scientific Reserve and no requirement in the Reserves Act to have one”.
I think ranger Bielby is mistaken. S41(1) of the Reserves Act is quite clear: “The administering body shall, within 5 years after the date of its appointment or within 5 years after the commencement of this Act, whichever is the later, prepare and submit to the Minister for his or her approval a management plan for the reserve under its control, management, or administration.”
Please ask him to clarify or retract his published statement.
Steve Hollett Waikanae Beach
Restore our river
For the many recreational users who now find they are banned from accessing all or parts of the Waikanae Estuary Scientific Reserve (Changes bolster Waikanae reserve: January 19), be aware that DoC is in breach of the law.
It has admitted that there is no Minister-approved management plan specifically required for all reserves under s41 of the Reserves Act and no public consultation to shape its development.
All reserves are taxpayerfunded and under the Act, the over-riding stated purpose for all categories of public reserves (including scientific) is to provide for their “preservation and management for the benefit and enjoyment of the public”.
But apart from commendable land-based plantings, DoC is progressively blocking or limiting public access with a claim that it is protecting “one of the most important estuarine environments in the lower North Island”.
If that were true some of DoC’s fortress mentality might be justifiable but 35 years of estuary stewardship have left a legacy which DoC should be ashamed of. That legacy includes shingle banks and sediment throttling the lower river and estuary, pollution, extensive loss of marine habitat, a river which is no longer navigable, and an increasing flooding threat.
Even the Minister has accepted all is not well by putting taxpayer money aside to help “restore the health” of the river.
It took an Official Information Act request to get it to confess that out of all its 1375 conservation assets around the country, Waikanae Estuary Scientific Reserve ranks a rock bottom 1336.
It’s time DoC developed a Minister-approved management plan, including public consultation, to overcome the reserve’s failings and build an estuary asset we can be proud of.
Chris Turver Waikanae Beach