Chris Carter: High-country farming gem preserved for all to enjoy

COMMENT


How would you feel if a future right-wing government sold New Zealand's largest farm, a huge piece of spectacularly beautiful landscape the size of Stewart Island?

How would you feel if you knew this farm was a place of significant national heritage and home to 77 threatened native species, one of which is found nowhere else in New Zealand?

That was entirely possible until the Government eliminated the prospect this month. The farm in question is Molesworth Station, which spans 180,000ha of south Marlborough.

It is a place of remarkable and dramatic beauty. Awe-inspiring mountains, rivers, lakes and tussock grasslands surround a farming operation that grazes 9500 cattle.

Although Molesworth has been taxpayer-owned since its inception in the 1930s, the station has held such a curious legal status that it could have been put on the block with little more than a stroke of a pen.

For this reason, the Government has announced that it is to permanently protect Molesworth as a unique high-country reserve managed by the Department of Conservation.

Over time, improved conservation, recreation and historic heritage opportunities are to be integrated in Molesworth alongside the existing farming operation.

Public access will be enhanced. Less than 15 per cent of the station is permanently open for people to visit, despite the fact that farming covers only a third of the station's area.

By transforming Molesworth into a reserve, the Government is acknowledging in the station's legal status that the public interest in the area stretches beyond the economic value of its farming operation.

There has been some opposition to Molesworth becoming a reserve. National and Act appear to want to retain the farm's existing legal status. Perhaps they want to keep the door open to a sale of the station.

The farming community is worried that Molesworth's farming operation is to be wound down under the Department of Conservation. It fears the burden of pest control on the station, largely paid for by the farm's profits, will fall on taxpayers.

For years Molesworth has been an icon of high-country farming. Huge problems with rabbits and weeds on the station have been largely overcome thanks to intelligent and responsible farm management.

The department does not want to close the farming operation on Molesworth, neither does it want to run it.

Farming is a crucial part of the station's heritage and the department wants to see a successful, profit-making operation run by experts continue, one that assists with weed and pest control. Landcorp is expected to renew its lease for the farm in 2005.

The debate about Molesworth has also flushed out a myth about the Department of Conservation in the farming community: the claim that it is a negligent landlord and spends little on weed control.

This is rubbish. The department does more to restore damaged natural environments than any other agency or industry.

Next year it will spend $1.29 per hectare on weed control based on its administration of 8 million ha of publicly owned conservation land.

That said, there is no need to control weeds on mountains, glaciers or dense native forests, and those types of environments make up a large part of conservation lands.

For this reason, the department targets weed control where it is needed most. In those areas it will spend, on average, $13.80/ha next year.

In comparison, Molesworth's farm managers are spending an estimated $1.39/ha on weed control.

Critics of the Government's decision on Molesworth have complained that increasing public access to the area will disrupt its ecological balance and carry significant safety risks in a rugged landscape prone to fire and avalanche.

Perhaps, but similar risks exist in all conservation areas, and the principle of public access still prevails.

The Department of Conservation is recognised worldwide as an expert agency in managing public access and its impact on the environment. It has far more experience in this area than any other organisation in the country. It has a long history of masterminding mountain rescues, and it is the biggest provider of rural fire services.

Under its management, Molesworth will reach its fullest potential. Farming, conservation, recreation and historic preservation will rest side by side for future generations to enjoy, permanently.