Mr Ryburn and the student trekkers make it into the Herald

re: Mr Ryburn and the student trekkers make it into the Herald

Quentin — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 21:35:44 GMT

I do disagree with Craig on the extent of the difficulties. This summer I have had a number of access issues that have thwarted planned trips. Here are two:

1. I was twice denied access to Cheviot Downs hut in the Takitimu Forest Park by the farmer who controls the only road access to that area (which includes the Excelsior Peaks). First time the reason he was hunting in there and he wasn't letting anyone else in for safety reasons , and the second time I pushed him and it became clear he was refusing everyone point blank to keep his exclusive hunting block for him and his mates. I told DOC and they said others have found the same, DOC has even been excluded sometimes, and they will look into it.

2. We wanted to access Arthur's Pass National Park through Mt White Station land, and were refused. Significant areas like the Mounds of Misery, Esk River, Ant Stream are difficult to access from the other side. Perfect upgraded huts like Lochinvar Hut and remoter ones like Andersons Hut are inaccessible without crossing Mt White. And they're a Pastoral Lease, so the land belongs to the NZ people anyway!

In other places, access has been good especially where easements have been negotiated post Tenure Review. And I have chatted with landholders who grant access but have to deal with poaching, vandalism and so on.

I think the policy needs more teeth - if farmers have veto rights, then they can simply close the door and set up their safari parks if they want. Like with most things, most will be reasonable, but a few won't and the policy should concern a process for forcing the latter to negotiate. Private property rights are never pure and sacrosanct, they are always subject to conditions and at times sacrificed (e.g. public works or mining), usually with compensation.

Cheers, quentin

re: Mr Ryburn and the student trekkers make it into the Herald

CraigR — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 16:47:41 GMT

Hey Quentin,

I still stand by my comments - you'll note I said that generally there aren't too many problems for members - true - the majority of trips members want to do they can without any difficulty of access, but there are issues and they do seem to be getting worse in some places.

However I did get caught a little off guard by that interview - the guy called me on my cell phone on Wednesday avo, and I had a chat to him then. In hindsight I'm not sure if I should be providing comments on behalf of the club, as it is difficult to gauge everyones feelings on issues, or represent a diverse range of opinions. I will bring this up at the next committee meeting because I don't want people to feel I'm misrepresenting them.

In terms of the policy - I refused to comment on that, since I hadn't read the latest report, and felt that even if I had, it was a more contentious issue, which would be even harder to represent the club on.

Cheers,

Craig

re: Mr Ryburn and the student trekkers make it into the Herald

Quentin — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 18:55:54 GMT

Craig, no sweat. You are correct that generally the club doesn't have problems, but the further afield one goes, the wider the problem. I don't have an issue with you misrepresenting the club - my post was a little stronger in 'disagreement' than I intended.

It is interesting that media reports had FMC praising the outcome ...