Land Tenure Change in the South Island High Country and Its Implications for Recreation and Tourism in New Zealand

Kearsley, G. W. & Croy, W. G.

Otago University

2000

Otago University

www.business.otago.ac.nz/tourism

tourism@otago.ac.nz

New Zealand’s natural environments have come under increasing recreational pressure over the past three decades, especially from overseas tourists, whose numbers have increased to almost 1.7 million in the past year, and whose rate of use of the back country is steadily climbing, at a faster rate than overall market growth. This is on top of a steady demand for domestic recreational opportunities. New Zealand has had a long tradition of access to outdoor recreation, to a largely undeveloped back country and to extensive areas of uncrowded natural environments; outdoor recreational land is plentiful by most countries’ standards. Substantial areas of largely unmodified country are vested in the Crown as public lands, in the form of National Parks, Forest Parks and a variety of other Reserves. The first National Park was established in 1887 and very large areas of largely unmodified country continue to be added to the system. The latest National Park, Kahurangi, in the north west of the South Island is the country’s second largest, and was not opened until 1996. The southernmost substantial island, Stewart Island, is now being considered for National Park status.

Not only is the Conservation Estate large, it is also widely distributed, although a considerable part lies along the Alpine spine of the South Island and is thus remote from the growing population focus of the northern North Island. Virtually all Crown Land is open to unconstrained public access; only some scientific and nature conservation areas are closed and these are only a very small proportion of the total. Even so, there are growing pressures from recreational use, and perceptions of crowding are becoming widespread (Kearsley 1997). In addition to the Crown Lands, substantial areas of open High Country grassland, usually held in the form of Crown Pastoral Leases, have traditionally been open to New Zealand recreationists, including hunters, trampers and fishermen. Increasingly, off-road recreational vehicles make use of the more accessible of these areas in the summer and cross-country skiers are becoming significant users in the winter. The twenty metre marginal strip that borders almost all rivers, streams and lakes, the so-called Queen’s Chain, has also provided extensive recreational areas and important access routes, not least to the High Country. As pressures have grown in the more traditional areas of forest and mountain, so have demands for access to the more remote High Country. However, while much of this region is vested in the Crown, most of it is leased in a manner that confers many of the privileges of private ownership on the lessee, including the right to deny access. In recent years, recreational impacts and changing safety legislation has led some High Country runholders to reduce or prohibit access, while the Government has introduced a process of tenure reform that creates both public and private land. All of these influences are leading to changing patterns of recreation, tourist access and management strategy.

Keywords:

Natural resources, Parks, High country, Back country, Environment, Change, Impact

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Case study

National

Outdoor Recreation

Outdoors

National Parks, Parks - remote/backcountry

Impacts - environmental, Tourism

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July 12, 2012