Private road in National Park not fair
Private road in National Park not fair
Changes to the
Westland National Park Plan propose putting private
roads
up the Fox and Franz Josef glacier valleys - so
that while a tourism
company would be allowed to take
vehicles beyond the carpark, the general
public -- even
those on bike -- could not.
"The Government has given DoC
a clear signal to support making money off
conservation
land, but this is taking things too far. Putting a
new
private road in a National Park is an affront to the
very ethos of our
publicly-owned conservation land," says
Lynley Hargreaves, spokesperson
for West Coast
Environment Network.
Pressure from tourism operators has
led the Department of Conservation to
consider extending
the roads beyond the current car parks. "Four
hundred
thousand people - including plenty of older folk
and young children -
walk up to the end of the Franz
Josef Glacier track each year. The
distance to walk
hasn't changed significantly in more than a decade.
If
you start running 4wd vehicles for a few paying
customers next to the
walking track, that's going to ruin
the experience for the majority of
people," says Ms
Hargreaves.
The proposed changes also include a
substantial increase in the number of
flights allowed
over the valley, despite the fact that DoC's
own
guidelines suggest aircraft "annoyance" thresholds
have already been
exceeded.
"Fox and Franz Josef
glaciers will continue to retreat in coming years,
due to
climate change. We support the work DoC is currently
undertaking to
extend the walking tracks to provide good
glacier views."
West Coast Environment Network, along with
other groups and individuals,
is submitting this week on
the proposed changes to the West Coast National
Park
Plan.