Forest & Bird seeks support
Mackenzie Basin, 6,000ft, irrigator territory between Twizel and Omarama.. Photo: Supplied
On the campaign trail to protect the Mackenzie Country, Forest and Bird’s advocate Nicola Vallance gave an illustrated talk at the Community Centre last week, and called for submissions opposing its development.
The 100km by 40km area, also known as the Mackenzie Basin, lies near the South Island’s centre and is an area of high ecological value. Recent controversy over cubicle farming proposals there—where thousands of cattle would be housed in stables—has put the spotlight on the landscape and raised many environmental concerns.
Although already highly modified by farming practices, the Mackenzie country features outstanding landscapes of high ecological values and is home to 68 rare and threatened plants and eight threatened animal species, including the largest New Zealand grasshopper.
“The Mackenzie has retained many national landscape values,” said Nicola. “It is a very dry place—the closest to a desert you can find in New Zealand—and it features moranes, remnants of the ice ages, high water quality and is the largest intermontane basin in New Zealand. It has many invertebrate species and its depleted dunes are a stronghold for many threatened native insects. There is plenty there, but it is fragile, tiny and long-lived to survive in this climate.”
Nicola described the Mackenzie landscape as iconic and deeply embedded in the New Zealand psyche. It is a place that has inspired poets and painters and enchanted international and New Zealand visitors alike with its glacial lakes and snow-capped mountains, braided river systems and wide tussock landscapes. It has featured in countless television commercials, documentaries and motion pictures, including Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.
“The tourism it attracts is vital to our economy. We use the high country to brand ourselves and some of our big businesses. It is unique and one of the jewels in New Zealand’s crown.”
At the same time, the area earns its way by producing hydro power, it supports sheep farming and irrigation for agricultural purposes.
The magnificent landscape however is under threat of being altered irreparably, said Nicola, as the demands for irrigation (there are currently 110 water consents before Environment Canterbury) and agricultural intensification were increasing.
Conservationists have been alerted further as five of the pastoral lease properties in the heart of the Mackenzie, between Lake Pukaki and Lake Tekapo, have entered the tenure review process. This means that over 40,000 hectares of Crown land in the Mackenzie are up for grabs. It is feared that the privatisation of Crown land opens up opportunities for cultivation, irrigation and more intensive farming.
Two of the five high country pastoral leases are currently proposed for tenure review (Maryburn Station and The Wolds) and the Government has released proposals to freehold large areas of these two farms.
In response to the threats, Forest and Bird is seeking public support for its demands for a hold on the proposals. The organisation is also working with the Government to set up a forum of local, regional and national partners to develop a shared vision to manage the basin’s natural resources and cultural heritage.
“It’s a complex issue with a whole range of different interests. Forest and Bird’s vision includes a drylands park to protect part of the Mackenzie Country for all New Zealanders, a time moratorium on resource consents and the tenure review. We want a strategic vision and an integrated plan for the Mackenzie Country through a collaborative process with stakeholders and the Government,” said Nicola.
What you can do:
Make a submission on the Forest and Bird Website before 4 March 2011.
Write to or email Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson (k.wilkinson@ministers.govt.nz) and Land Information Minister Maurice Williamson (m.williamson@ministers.govt.nz) opposing the preliminary proposals for The Wolds and Maryburn.
Write a letter to the editor of your local paper outlining your concerns for the Mackenzie Country.
Contact your local MP and send them a copy of your letter to the Minister.
Ina Holst
