By PAULA OLIVER and NZPA
The rising number of overseas tourists visiting outdoor destinations is forcing the Department of Conservation to consider rationing access to the sites.
At-risk sites and activities include the Heaphy Track, kayaking on the Whanganui River, and the Mt Tongariro crossing.
Rationing is raised in a report presented
this week by the local government and environment select committee. It says visitors to Mt Tongariro have increased from 10,000 to 65,000 in the past decade. Visitors to Abel Tasman National Park have doubled over the same period.
Possible solutions include using booking systems to limit visitor numbers, hardening track surfaces to cope with more visitors and improving sewage systems.
Milford Track walkers could be sent off in the same direction to reduce the perception of crowding. Staggered start times could be introduced on Mt Tongariro.
Booking is already needed to secure huts on popular walks such as the Milford and Routeburn tracks.
The department is responsible for 1000 back-country huts, 12,550km of walking tracks and 14,400 visitor structures. It spends $16.7 million a year managing its assets.
But although it is looking for ways to deal with the high number of tourists, the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society yesterday suggested the root of the problem lay elsewhere.
Field Officer Eugenie Sage cited the department's "apparent reluctance to decline consent to tourism activities, no matter how disruptive they are of natural quiet, wilderness character and conservation values".
An overhaul of the department's concessions management was urgently needed, she said.
There had been a 30 per cent increase in commercial activity and concessions approved by DoC over two years from 1998 to 2000.
The increase was leading to more "people pressure"on the natural areas, which was seen in crowding at key sites, loss of remoteness, septic-tank contamination of waterways and expanded carparks.
The department is reviewing its assets and says some facilities will be closed in response to changing conservation or visitor requirements, or to reduce the environmental impact.
A consultation process on the future of visitor sites will begin next year and is expected to take around two years to complete.
The closure or removal of visitor assets will take several years.
Further reading
nzherald.co.nz/environment
