Day 3 - Presented to Sustainable Summits 2016 Rob Brown: Wilderness Values in the mountains

1. The State of ‘Wilderness’ in the
New Zealand Mountains
A small kicking of the legs that hold up the idea to see if they still
hold

2. A simple definition of wilderness values

3. Wilderness Areas
• We currently don’t have an up to date
Wilderness Area policy. Any update stuck at a
planning level within the department.
• We’ve had wilderness in the National Parks
Act since 1952 but current policy is ad hoc
through various management plans and CMS
documents.

4. The ‘wilderness’ rational
• “It is recognised that the provision of amenities
‘huts and tracks’ inevitably alters the unspoiled
nature of the land, and in return encourages
greater use of, and consequently greater damage
to the environment” (This was the 1970s reaction to the
NZ Forest Service programme, and other mixed politics. Not
necessarily a reflection of real wilderness values)
• Places for ‘quiet enjoyment’. ‘Quiet’ now means
‘dead’.

5. Joe River, Olivines Wilderness Area
When Jack Holloway and co. explored here in the 1930s there were still Kakapo

6. Destiny Ridge from the Barrier Range

7. Reality: Most of our wilderness areas are spoilt. They are devoid of
wildlife. Humans are have created the pest problem but they have to
clean it up if it is to be returned to ‘wilderness’.
• That means they can no longer be areas of non‐management.
• Currently you have more chance of seeing kea and rock wren
in the Routeburn or the Matukituki Valley than anywhere in
the Olivine Wilderness.
• Currently you have more chance of seeing whio in Flora
Saddle than the Tasman Wilderness Area
• Wilderness Areas without the sound of kea and whio is not
wilderness. It is simply nice scenery without landings and huts
and tracks.
• This is not an argument for huts and tracks, more an
argument to keep our eye on the ball as to where the real
values are

8. (Non)Policy result
• Fail.
• We’ve largely failed to preserve true wilderness
values in our Wilderness Areas. Policy almost
discourages people from visiting and therefore
monitoring status. People are part of the solution
to cleaning up the biodiversity tragedy in these
areas. The Wilderness Policy largely tries to
protect how these places were in the 1970s, not
reverse the reality of what they have become in
2016.

9. The ‘wilderness’ rational
• As a society, we’re confused about how much
to celebrate wilderness areas. In fact we are
nonsensical about it.
• Officially the old wilderness policy said:
‘Wilderness areas should have their
designation identified in management plans
but their use will not be promoted’ and yet…..

10. In another wilderness document you will read:
“Although the majority of New Zealanders
may probably never visit a wilderness area, it
certainly does not mean that there will be no
benefit for these people. Wilderness is just as
much a cultural concept as a natural resource.
Second, there is the enjoyment to be gained by
armchair exploration, through the medium of
films and books”

11. Paparoa Wilderness Area

12. (Non)Policy result
• Fail.
• Go to any Department of Conservation Visitor
Centre and see what sort of interpretation there
is for any of the Wilderness Areas.
• Go to the Paparoa Visitor Centre and you would
not be alone in exiting with zero knowledge that
the Paparoa Wilderness Area even exists.
• The case for Wilderness does have to keep being
made and this isn’t helping.

13. Wild values in non‐Wilderness Areas
• Having ‘wilderness areas’ has meant
sacrificing wild values in some places.
• This a perverse outcome of drawing lines on
maps.
• More important to for first time visitors to be
exposed to wild values than Wilderness Area
users.

14. Toaroha Valley. Hard to think of a valley more filled with huts and tracks.
Still wild. It’s a land with quite a few lovers.

15. Wild values in non‐Wilderness Areas
• Having ‘wilderness areas’ has meant
sacrificing wild values in some places.
• More important to for first time visitors to be
exposed to wild values than Wilderness Area
users.

16. From 2001 State of the Wilderness:
“While recognising such activity‐specific aspects,
maximising the general qualities of ‘wilderness in
recreation’ outside the Wilderness Areas will require
management which reinforces visitor perceptions of:
• Unaltered natural settings
• Low‐impact and experience‐sensitive facilities and
services
• Unobtrusive regulatory presence
• Minimal apparent visitor numbers
Recreation planning and management should promote
these four principles wherever possible.”

17. A possible future
• Society needs wilderness lands to have a few
more lovers. We can’t just keep relying on Les
and a few people in FMC. To do that we have to
get away from the fear that these places will get
overwhelmed.
• We need to prioritise the values in Wilderness
Areas and work out a realistic plan to protect
them.
• We do need a policy and that policy needs to
extend to protecting wild values in non‐
Wilderness Areas

18. Final thought….
“Sometimes I wonder if our final act of
wilderness destruction did not lie in
designating formal wilderness areas for
preservation. In defining the boundaries,
writing the rules and publicising the results,
did we not remove the last of the magic?”
Raymond Dasmann