Haast-Milford New Highway Promotion

Forest & Bird » Marine and Coastal

Haast-Milford New Highway Promotion

(25 posts)

Started 2 years ago

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Wilderness roads, penguins, tourism lobby, conservation, World Heritage Site destroyed, Global Warming Denier Bellamy, Who funded Bellamy's trip?a, Brownlee Pugh and Hageman fans

Gerry
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Tourism promoters in Southland and Scenic Circle Hotel Owner Earl Hageman have this month been pushing hard for the construction of a highway through the heart of the South West NZ-Te Wahi Pounamu World Heritage Site. The road would link Haast south along the wilderness coastline to Big Bay then up the Hollyford Valley to join up with the Milford Road. It would be an ecological disaster.

There has been a lot of coverage given to the proposal in Southland, Otago and West Coast papers but the biggest push seems to be coming from Southland tourist promoters not from the West Coast.

At a time when we are trying to limit CO2 emissions from vehicles, the construction of a massive new highway is unwarranted. The road would drive a dagger through the wilderness of Southern South Westland. It would destroy coastal rainforest breeding areas of endangered tawaki (Fiordland Crested penguin) all the way along the coastline, about 40km length in total. There would be massive destruction of wilderness. New bridges would hasten the movement across rivers of possums into places where they have not yet colonised.

Maintaining our existing NZ highway network is a huge annual cost and if the one lane bridges are eventually to be replaced on Highway 6, the existing highway maintenance cost will be even more massive.

Ironically, the Haast-Hollyford Road compounds, rather than relieves, any pressure on Milford Sound road access. This is because the vehicle pressure point is the Homer Tunnel to Milford stretch. The proposed road does nothing to mitigate this. It would link up with the existing road east of the Homer tunnel in the Upper Hollyford.

We all thought that this wilderness road concept had died a natural death years ago but at a time when there are calls for infrastructure projects to boost the economy, we need to watch this one closely to make sure it doesn't gather a head or steam.

Has anyone got any photos of the Hollyford or the Big Bay coastline?

Posted 2 years ago #
JamieS
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I don't think you need to worry about this one Gerry. They are wasting their time. Even us Generation Y people would get off our computers to battle this.

But what about a "great ride"?

Posted 2 years ago #
ruby
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Great for tourism but disaster for the penguins and really the last bit of wilderness in nz .
I think it will happen eventually just when ,if someone can make money out of it and a lot will they will get there, these places should be left untouched .

Posted 2 years ago #
Gerry
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There has been a lot of coverage of the Haast-Milford Proposed Highway concept in the ODT and Southland Times but not a single voice raised in the media against it.

Apathy means that sometimes these things gather momentum and before we know it there is a serious proposal so it is great that JamieS will be leading the campaign.

The DG of Conservation and the Minister of Conservation have both been in Dunedin singing the same tune that "Conservation is about making an economic contribution to the NZ economy". It isn't a big stretch then for them to start arguing that building a wilderness road might be good for tourism and therefore something that DOC should support.

I think we need to watch this new DOC tune about lining up all sorts of economic opportunities for DOC to pursue in partnership with the private sector. I pay my taxes so that, amongst other functions of Government like health etc, DOC can be the guardians of out treasured species and places. I'm not too happy when DOC starts trying to be business entrepreneurs while being paid a public service salary!

In terms of a bike track Jamie, I've walked the Haast to Hollyford and it isn't easy nor is it particularly scenic even for a walking trail....and the river crossings would be a nightmare to overcome.

A far better option for bikers would be to build a verge or shoulder on Highway 6 so that you could bike this scenic, quiet and wonderful highway without fear of being cleaned up by a campervan. Thousands already bike it every year. many more would bike it if there was a dedicated bike lane.

Posted 2 years ago #
SueL
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I agree Gerry, a decent bike lane on Highway 6 would be wonderful for us cyclists.

Leave the coastline as an untracked wilderness. When are we going to get over the idea that we have to put tracks and roads everywhere!

Posted 2 years ago #
logan
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Nice one Gerry,you hit the nail on the head,outside influences pushing this highway thing for a chance to make a buck at the cost to our ecology.Plain and simple greed,no care for the enviroment.I will oppose this

Posted 2 years ago #
richard R
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Have just come across this post, sadly a month late. The prospect of a road down that coast is totally repugnant, and, as Gerry says, the present Government is highly dangerous in presuming to rediscover the 'economic' merits of the conservation estate through more mining, hydro, giant wind and industrial tourism. I was at that conference where Tim Groser outlined his vision; he expressed his surprise in a key-note address that John Key had given him the conservation portfolio, and was apparently told by the PM that he had 'a head for numbers'!!! Sounds sinister. We MUST be vigilant. Gerry, I say without reservation that I'll join and if needs be lead any fight to stop the road going through, if ever a serious proposal eventuates. Happily, others have told me that RTA economics are at least as likely to kill the proposal as environmentalists.

Posted 2 years ago #
Tawaki
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If anyone gets the chance to interview David Bellamy or ask him questions it would be worth checking whether he still advocates a Haast-Hollyford Road.

He stuffed his NZ reputation with me by being captured by Te Anau tourism interests at the very time we were campaigning to save the rainforests of South West New Zealand as a World Heritage Site. He argued that in order to save these rainforests and wilderness we should carve a new tourist road right through the middle of it.

I've always been doubtful about celebrity nature conservation endorsements from overseas "experts" who don't have the time or the opportunity to first check out the background with the local conservation movement. It runs real risks of de-railing the local conservation campaign. This approach also reeks a bit of a cultural cringe or insecurity that I thought we had thrown off by now. We don't actually need British experts telling us how to save primary rainforests. They don't have any of it left nor much experience at saving any! By contrast in New Zealand we have shown extraordinary skill at saving what is left of our rainforests from logging.

I've always been far happier to have our local heroes such as Sir Alan Mark championing causes because you can be sure they are well aware of the local angles and the political nuances.

We need to be cautious if David Bellamy is asked to express his current view on the construction of a Haast-Hollyford Road. The last thing we need is for a re-vamped wilderness road building campaign strengthened by his support.

I'd be delighted to learn if David Bellamy now opposes the road

Posted 2 years ago #
ruby
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David bellamy is a world renowned conservationist , and has helped a lot all over the world in his time,just cause he doesnt agree with every issue you support tawaki .
he is still entiteled to his views as we all are whatever race we belong to, no matter anyones ethnicity tawaki we still have the right to express our views .

Posted 2 years ago #
JamieS
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I actually agree with Ruby to an extent.

We shoudn't get into Bellamy's race or origins, though we should certainly challenge his views if they need challenging....which in regards to climate change and it seems the Haast-Hollyford proposal...they do.

Sometimes as a nation, I'm thinking marine mammal protection, freshwater quality etc, we get stuck in such a rut that it would be quite useful to have a strong and respected international voice holding us to account....

Posted 2 years ago #
Tawaki
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Just because it is done overseas or because overseas "experts" argue something it doesn't mean it is necessarily the truth or that we should follow their lead.

We have actually developed some extraordinary skills in the nature conservation and sustainable living fields within our own little country and we should all be aware of these.

One of the biggest impediments to stopping logging of New Zealand's rainforests was the obsession of NZ foresters to practice "Selective logging" as was allegedly practised for generations by German foresters. Eventually, when the German forestry methods were looked at in detail by independent NZers not committed to logging our ancient rimu rainforests, their methods were found to be utterly uneconomic, hugely labour intensive and bore little relationship to reality. They were propped up by huge subsidies like so much European primary production. However it was a bit like the high esteem in which people hold European cars. Because it was German forestry it had to be good.

The last legacy of this foresters desire to practice selective logging with our slow growing natives is the company "Forever Beech" set up in the 1990s on the West Coast to manage and sell slow growing beech wood. It has lurched from financial crisis to financial crisis, received huge amounts of regional development trust and central money. The latest news is that it has been sold and is being re-located from Hokitika to Reefton. Based on Forever Beech's woes, just imagine the scale of the financial and ecological disaster had the large scale Government beech scheme proposed in the 1970s actually gone ahead.

For many years NZ conservationists battled against this desire amongst NZ foresters to practice German forestry methods that frankly didn't work here. "Selection logging" sounded a good euphemism and a bit like apple pie and motherhood but arguably has worked even more poorly in 3rd World Countries. Here perhaps the biggest problem with selective logging is the construction of the access road into the forest for the selective logging methods. In Germany, of course, logging was regulated by lots of rules. They are good at rules!. In Third World countries the rules are often corrupted and not applied. Hence as soon as the road is built into a forest it is the kiss of death on the forest. The first harvest is extracted then it becomes a free for all. Too many logs were taken out in the first cut and subsequent cuts. There are landless settlers who access the forest up the road and start burning the forest to create clearings for agriculture. The nett result is usually the loss of the forest.

I'm only citing this example as a caution again that just because an "Overseas Expert" has come here to tell us to do something, it ain't necessarily true. This is why I don't want a Haast-Hollyford road constructed even if David Bellamy thinks it a good idea. I'd much rather take advice from Alan Mark or anyone else with scientific skills and a long track record of fighting to save New Zealand's wilderness and nature!

I also understood that Bellamy is on the public record proposing that there is no global warming problem caused by increasing levels of CO2. I understood that he argued that if there are increasing CO2 levels, algae/plankton in the ocean will incorporate it resulting in the removal of any excess CO2 from the atmosphere. This viewpoint was given wide publicity but little credence by the scientific community.

Posted 2 years ago #
Kaipara
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Hi Gerry,

Please keep us informed of any developments on this proposed road which would be a disaster for that area. It sounds like another proposal that National will pick up and push ! Roads, open cast mines, felling native trees - it's all the same to them !

Posted 2 years ago #
Tawaki
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Those in this Chatroom who thought we should genuflect in front of an "Overseas Expert", such as David Bellamy might be interested to read this TV3 story.

In my view, Bellamy was wrong in his support for a Haast-Hollyford Road. He is wrong that Global warming "is a good thing". I'm not sure why we insist on giving a platform to his utterances particularly since our taxes through Massey University and perhaps even DOC (who helped host him at Whirinaki) probably paid for his around the world air ticket and NZ travel expenses.

Unfortunately his public utterances will have a powerful influence on lots of people including those national politicians who want us to lag behind the world in our climate change responses.

He claims that global warming might be good if you want to grow crops in Siberia. There are very few Siberian people! It might also result in a huge release of methane hydrates stored beneath the thawing permafrost of Siberia, dramatically exacerbating global warming. Global warming is certainly a disaster for polar bears and also for the millions of South American people living on the altiplano of Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. They depend for their dry season water and their survival on meltwater from the Andes Glaciers that are melting very fast and disappearing.

It needn't worry Bellamy. He won't go hungry. By the time global warming really hits earth and directly affects our kids and our grandchildren Bellamy will be long dead.

Will our descendents say "Why didn't they do something?" much as we wonder why our ancestors destroyed most of the native forests and stupidly introduced all those pests and weeds.

Here was the story run two days ago by TV3 under the following headline:

David Bellamy denounces man-made climate change

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 9:39a.m.
By Cate Owen

For years, Professor David Bellamy was one of the best known faces on TV. The botanist has written 35 books and presented about 400 programmes.
These days his name is linked with headlines like “Global warming myth” and “Global warming is nonsense”.

Professor Bellamy says that “climate change has always happened” – but doubts man-made climate change. “It is total poppycock.” He says that warming of the planet is a good thing.
“We could grow more food in Siberia,” he told Sunrise's Carly Flynn. “If you go back 2,000 years ago in Britain we were growing good merlot in the borders of Scotland – and that was three degrees to five degrees warmer then it is now.”

Professor Bellamy is calling for more balance in the climate change debate.
“Why won’t Al Gore stand up and have a head-to-head with some of the people? He won’t.”

Professor Bellamy also wonders how Mr Gore can be carbon-neutral. “How can anyone be carbon neutral? He flies around. He flouts the truth. If you looked at his famous DVD, there are 25 very, very dodgy statements politically.”

But what if Professor Bellamy is wrong about man-made climate change?
“Well if I’m wrong I expect they’ll put me in prison,” he chuckles.
Professor Bellamy is in New Zealand to visit various parks and says that the government stocktake and potential mining is a bad thing.

“They really shouldn’t do it, should they?” He comments.

He is working with Maori and DOC to move certain environmental projects forward and thinks that New Zealand is doing a good job in that area.

“Wherever I go, I see people are doing the right thing now.”

Posted 2 years ago #
Tawaki
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Apparently DOC (Our taxes) paid all or part of the cost of David Bellamy being flown across the world where he told New Zealanders via TV3 that Global Warming is 'total poppycock" and that warming of the planet is a good thing.

I haven't got a figure on his travel costs. Can anyone help?

I was told by the chair of Bellamy's Auckland meeting that apart from his ravings in support of global warming he actually spoke well on nature conservation and community involvement.

Posted 2 years ago #
Tawaki
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The Haast Hollyford road is still being pushed by Earl Hageman owner of Scenic Circle/Heartland Hotel chain.

There is a big story somewhere on stuff.co.nz about Hageman campaigning for public funds for this road to be developed destroying a vast area of wilderness coastline.

Anyone seen the story?

Posted 2 years ago #
Tawaki
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TV One are heading to the West Coast for 3 days next week (Jan 25-28 2010) to do a story on the Minister for Economic Development Gerry Brownlee's push for a Haast-Hollyford Road.

Rather than being a "pipe dream" as some F&B members think it might be, it is getting a little too real for me. Remember too that the western part of Mt Aspiring National Park is one of the areas that Brownless thinks might have lots of minerals as well as the asbestos prospected there 40 years ago...so you could justify the destruction of the wilderness on both tourism and on mining grounds.

Posted 2 years ago #
Kim
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There was a good piece in the ODT on this issue which outlines F & B's view.

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/90182/forest-and-bird-advocate-slams-haast-hollyford-road-proposal

I would love to get my hands on the ministry's analysis......

Posted 2 years ago #
auckland anne
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I'm sure a lot of people would like to get their hands on the Minister...

Posted 2 years ago #
Tawaki
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You'd need very big hands Kim.

The ODT story is a brilliant response from Kevin Hackwell of Forest and Bird. However we do need to keep up the public pressure against crazy schemes like carving this road through the World Heritage wilderness and opening up asbestos and other mines in Mt Aspiring National Park.

The Government seems to be playing to a domestic red neck audience still in love with the big development ideas of the 1950s and 60s. Then wilderness roads, big hydro dams, beech schemes and the whole idea of brawny men and machines taming nature was celebrated by the National Film Unit serenaded by dramatic sounding music and fawning male voice overs!

The world has moved on since then. New Zealand has built a reputation as a caring and sensitive environmentally aware nation. Maybe the Minister and his officials haven't caught up with that. Scenic Circle Hotel American origin owner Earl Hageman is I believe in his late 70's, has not moved with the times and perhaps formed his ideas from the 1930s onwards so it is not surprising that he wants Greenies to go and live in caves.

It is interesting that Earl Hageman's Hotel Chain has recently opened the Te Waonui Rainforest Retreat at Franz Josef calling it a luxury "Eco Hotel". They aren't averse to promoting all their environmental credentials when it suits them. They are even quite happy to go use the image of rainforests that have been protected by passionate caring New Zealand "greenies" when it suits Scenic Circle's commercial purposes.

The Scenic Circle 2009-10 national advertising campaign for this hotel, sited in cutover kamahi forest in the rat race of Franz Josef town, is centered around a Craig Potton photo of a kahikatea wetland rainforest at Ship Creek, 140 km south of Franz Josef. The Scenic Circle advertising makes the claim that their new Franz Josef hotel is surrounded by this pristine wilderness rainforest of Ship Creek.

It is akin to an Auckland hotel showing a picture of beautiful Hahei Beach 200km away on the Coromandel and claiming that these are the sea views that you see out their Auckland hotel window. The real estate industry used to be masters at this type of false advertising but have been forced to clean up their act.

Earl Hageman wants greenies who want to preserve wilderness to "go and live in caves" but will cash in on the World Heritage protected wilderness kahikatea forest of Ship Creek saved by Forest and Bird and other "greenies" when it suits.

Congratulations to the Advertising Standards Authority who in a December 2009 decision, in response to a complaint, have required the Scenic Circle Group to stop using this false advertising to promote their new Franz Josef hotel. ASA made their decision in secret and require the complainant to maintain the secrecy. Why?? Scenic Circle should be publicly shamed.

The ASA decision against Scenic Circle campaign must not remain secret.

Posted 2 years ago #
Tara
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Does anyone know the exact route of the proposed highway from Haast to Big Bay/Hollyford? Will it head up the Cascade and meet up with the Hollyford at Lake Alabaster or head directly down the coast into Big Bay?

Myself and a couple of other girls are planning to walk the proposed route this year, to experience this amazing wilderness area before it possibly gets destroyed and in protest as well. We would like to take lots of photos of the area and hopefully these could be used in a campaign if need be in the future.

Any info on the road proposal route would be great!

thanks
tara

Posted 1 year ago #
Tawaki
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I walked in mid winter down to Barn Bay and along the Coast all the way to the Hollyford River/Martins Bay in 2002.

The road will not be built so there will not be any road route.

On TV1 they showed the route being up the Jackson River from the Arawhata, across the Cascade, down to Barn Bay, south along the coast all the way to Big Bay (destroying tawaki penguin breeding areas all the way down) then inland to the Pyke River and down the Pyke past Lake Alabaster then up the Hollyford to join the Milford Road in the upper Hollyford. There would still be a Homer tunnel/road bottleneck from the Upper Hollyford into Milford Sound so the new road does nothing to slove this "bottleneck' problem.

The stupid Westland District Council, where I am a significant ratepayer and regular inhabitant, and it's Mayor Maureen Pugh, are strongly supporting the construction of the road.

Some of their ratepayers recognise how foolish this is and yesterday they told the Mayor how disastrous carving the new wilderness highway could be for the tourist economy of Hokitika, Greymouth and the central and northern West Coast.

What the Westland Council haven't woken up to is that apart from the destruction of the World Heritage Area, many tourists would find it most attractive to do a circle route from Queenstown via Te Anau through Milford and then up the new road to Haast and the Glaciers then back direct to Queenstown via the Haast Pass.

Overseas tourists are mostly time poor (apart from long stay Escape and Wicked bedmobile tourists) and therefore they'd knock out the "icon" sites then fly out of Queenstown or Christchurch and the West Coast north of the Glaciers would so a major financial starve.

Posted 1 year ago #
Tara
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cheers tawaki for the info and yes the road will not be built!! Its just funny that the same time the government starts talking about opening up schedule 4 conservation land for mining (Mt Aspiring National Park included), that this road thing resurfaces as well. and i think mt aspiring is one of the first areas where they want to do a "stoketake" of whats under the ground.

and i agree that the tourists won't give up Queenstown to come north this way, or poor old Makarora will miss out completely if they bypass Haast Pass

im sure the whitebaiters with huts at Big Bay will be more than happy to leave things the way they are also, road access into there would ruin them if scoop netters and nosy tourists were to turn up

are there any public hearings about all this coming up??

cheers
tara

tara

Posted 1 year ago #
Tamra
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I'm going to try and walk from martyr homestead in the Cascade valley to the coast then south along the west coast to martins bay and then out the hollyford. I'm going to do this in early June and take lots of photos along the way. I'll let ya know how we go

Posted 1 year ago #
Tawaki
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I think that we forgot to update this post with the great news that the Government about late March 2010 put an indefinite halt to all work on the Haast-Hollyford Road proposal.

They finally woke up to what economic lunacy it is and hopefully also to what an environmental disaster it would be too.

Tamra please be very careful crossing the mighty Cascade-a big wide swift river. Just be very careful how you pick your crossing and don't cross if the water is discoloured and swollen. Maurice Nolan of Haast has a farm in the lower Cascade. He is against the Haast-Hollyford Road. He goes down the Cascade frequently and has a good jet boat. I'm sure he would be open to an approach if you needed to get across a swollen Cascade.

The Gorge River is the other really tricky crossing. There is a row boat at the Gorge. "Beansprout" Robert Long and his wife and family live there and may be able to help. Remember to take him some updated reading material and some chocolate.

Good luck.

Posted 1 year ago #
Fiordland Coast Walks
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We have recently launched a venture taking guided walks along this coastline, following many years wandering and exploring it. The coastline is spectacular and we agree that any road along here will completely destroy the environment.

This coastline is the longest stretch of wilderness coastline in New Zealand that can be walked (relatively easily) and for that reason alone the road proposal should be tossed in the bin.

If anyone has any questions regarding this area please don't hesitate to contact us. Similarly, if there is anything we can do to assist in keeping this coastline pristine then get in touch. We are already helping DOC with a beach clean-up program to remove the flotsam and jetsam from fishing boats.

Tawaki above has it right regarding the road - economic lunacy and environmental disaster.

Posted 3 weeks ago #

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