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A day in the park
Wellington – Lord of the Rings
Regional and local parks provide opportunities for sightseeing, picnics,
walks, swimming, tramping, camping and much more. There are also
opportunities for more adventurous activities such as mountain biking,
horse riding, paragliding and hang-gliding, abseiling and boating.
Parks provide convenient areas for recreation and a high-quality natural environment.
But policy issues are posed by the multiple users of parks. People in four-wheel drives argue they have as much right to be accommodated in extensive parklands as people who make more passive use of them. Mountain-bikers and trampers can also be in conflict.
In managing park use, regional councils are likely to encourage activities that are sustainable, and discourage unsustainable uses. Sometimes they have to say no to people who wish to use public lands inappropriately.
The Local Government Act (LGA) 1974 empowered Auckland and Wellington regional councils to hold, manage and purchase land for regional parks to protect natural environmental, landscape, educational, heritage or archaeological values, or for recreational significance or potential. LGA 2002 provided a new framework for local authorities to play a broad role in promoting the social, environmental and cultural well-being of their communities through a sustainable development approach.
The introduction of the Resource Management Act 1991 gave regional
councils new roles and responsibilities for ensuring sustainable
management of natural
resources across their regions.
Management plans recognise threats to maintaining biodiversity. Key ecosystem
types being depleted include wetlands, the rivers and streams, estuaries,
dunes, lowland bush, coastal escarpments and marine ecosystems. Regional
councils,
in their search for sustainable management of regional parks, seek to manage
the whole of the ecosystem rather than just parts of it.
Management plans also guide the long-term management of these lands, and provide an opportunity for the community to have a say in how these lands are managed and used. They provide direction about how conflicting demands and values should be addressed.
Wellington – Lord of the Rings
Lord of the Rings filmmakers paid to use Kaitoke Regional Park and Queen Elizabeth Park, illustrating that awareness is growing that parks also may have a commercial value. A steady stream of visitors has been going to see the elvish enclave Rivendell, (top right of the photo above) in Kaitoke. They benefit, as do those who contribute to making the experience possible.
