View image 

 Achieving long term sustainability of iconic tourism destinations through management planning: A comparison of the management of Milford Sound / Piopiotahi New Zealand, and Windermere, Lake District National Park, United Kingdom. 

 National parks are established for conservation of natural environments in both New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Successful management of national parks requires a balance of social, economic and environmental factors in order to maintain national park values

What, if anything, is left of the undiscovered or wild places of the world? The human hand is far-reaching and as technology extends this reach, few places escape our attention. Discovering the “unknown” produces a tension, as once discovered the place becomes “known”. In most instances local people will be familiar with the area, but knowledge of the place may not have been disseminated further. Wider knowledge may bring with it opportunities for protection or alternatively exploitation. Is it better to know the unknown or not?

Opoutere Beach and sandspit and Wharekawa estuary and harbour on the East Coast of Coromandel are wonderful examples of relatively unspoilt New Zealand coastal ecosystems.  They also reflect a rich pre-European human history. 

In general, estuaries are some of the most important of coastal and marine habitat because they provide rich feeding grounds for shore birds and breeding grounds for fish and other marine life. They also tend to be important sites of human habitation. Almost all New Zealand’s main cities are on estuaries, from Whangarei in the north to Invercargill in the south. Their estuaries are subject to numerous sources of ecological damage, including weed infestations, the impacts of domestic animals on wildlife, stormwater outflows, and in some cases the overland travel of industrial chemicals (e.g. lead, cadmium, zinc) from sources such as paved roads, industrial sites, shopping mall parking lots and so on. Even where communities have secondary or tertiary treatment of their sewage, some of the chemicals that enter sewage, such as birth control hormones, are not extracted by treatment processes and end up in the harbor.

A recent news release from the Department of Conservation, advises of the discovery of the death of some 70 short tailed bats in the Pureora Forest Park area. The cause of the death of these special creatures is as yet unknown, but DoC is investigating this further. Possible causes include predation,disease or parasites or poison ingestion. Result of autopsies will be available by the end of the month.

Only 2 types of bat now exist in New Zealand; the lesser short-tailed bat Mystacina tuberculata and the long-tailed bat Chalinolobus tuberculatus. And yes, New Zealand does have endemic land mammals... but these are our only two. The bats are tiny, not much bigger than a thumb, but still considered tasty by a number of introduced predators. The northern lesser short-tailed bat carries a threatened species classification of nationally endangered and its southern cousin is considered nationally critical.

Interestingly bats have an important role to play in the pollination of plants and it has now been discovered that they have co-evolved with the rare dactylanthus taylorii  and are known to pollinate it. The interconnectivity of the environment continues to amaze me, but it is also reason for disquiet when contemplating the flow on effect of human induced impacts on the environment.

To find out more about these wonderful little creatures visit Pukaha Mt Bruce http://www.mtbruce.org.nz/bats_more.htm or DoC at http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/native-animals/bats/short-tailed-bat/. Read the DoC recovery plan to see what is in store for pekapeka, and if you want to find out more about the recent deaths at Pureora, the Te Kuiti area office for the Waikato conservancy will have further information. I'll also keep you posted as news filters through.

The NZ Herald of Wednesday 14^th January, 2009 carried an article on the sand replenishment of Auckland’s beaches (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10551753).

Mission Bay, Kohimarama and St Heliers have all received large quantities of sand from the Pakiri coastline north of Warkworth and Point Chevalier Beach is the latest to receive sand. The article caused me to reflect on the ethics of beach replenishment in particular, and resource use by big cities in general.

Auckland draws on resources from the rest of New Zealand – water, energy, aggregates, minerals, timber, dairy products and so forth, from the Waikato and elsewhere. Beach replenishment is one more example of taking from elsewhere for the benefit of Aucklanders.

As you move about New Zealand’s spectacular beaches and wetlands this summer, spare a thought for some of the less obvious inhabitants with whom we share these areas. The New Zealand Herald carried a story this week about the death of a fairy tern, crushed to death on its nest. The account advises that Department of Conservation staff believe a beachgoer crossed a tape fence and stepped on the chick at Mangawhai Spit north of Auckland, days before it could have flown the nest. The article records that the fairy tern is New Zealand’s most rare bird, with only 12 breeding pairs remaining. For further detail see: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10551576

Associate Professor, Dr. Alister Scott, BA, PhD Wales MRTPI

In November last year, we were very pleased to welcome a new colleague to the Waikato Planning programme, Associate Professor Dr. Alister Scott previously from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, and before that, from Aberystwyth in Wales.

What goes on underneath those waters?  Is the world under the water as busy as that on the surface?

Part of our difficulty with marine and ocean planning is that we know so little about the 3-dimensional world of water.  We are creatures of the air and two-dimensional surfaces.  We use our eyes to sense our surroundings more than touch or hearing.  In the sea, eyes are less important, sounds and vibrations are more important; seeing is less important and hearing and touch are more. 

Our two-dimensional world means that it is hard for us to think simultaneously of left/right, back and forward and up/down.  

Marine Protection news In the last days of his presidency, George Bush has signed a protection order for three large areas of the Pacific Ocean totalling some 505775 sq kms (195,280 sq miles). The areas include two regions of the Line islands in the central pacific and an are of the western Pacific that includes the northern Marianas chain and the Mariana Trench. http://www.iucn.org/index.cfm?uNewsID=2513

Energy - one way or another, questions of energy use and energy supply will continue to dominate. Energy efficiency and renewable energy projects will continue to hit the headlines, including:

• retrofitting of buildings for eco-efficiency;
• wind farms and possibly tidal power and wave power
• hydro power including  micro-generators
• manufacture of biofuels (e.g. bio-ethanol and bio-diesel) from sources such as wood and animal waste and landfill gas.