Land Tenure Change in the South Island High Country and Its Implications for Recreation and Tourism in New Zealand
G W Kearsley and W G Croy
Department of Tourism
University of Otago
PO Box 56
Dunedin
New Zealand
Tel 64 3 479 8520
Fax 64 3 479 9034
Email geoff.kearsley@stonebow.otago.ac.nz
Introduction
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.
The South Island High Country
The South Island High Country has no formal definition, although there is a common understanding of what the High Country is and represents. Essentially, it comprises a central region of medium to high altitude more or less natural grassland running the length of the South Island between the Alpine ranges and the coastal plains and downlands of the East coast, Figure 1. This land is sometimes known as 'ethe tussock grasslands', 'erangelands' or 'erun country' and may be as low as 300 metres above sea level. It is closely linked with the extent of a system of Crown Pastoral Leases that restrict the use of the area to pastoral activity and no other use. The region has a central role in images of New Zealand, portraying down to earth values that contrast with city sophistication (Fitzharris and Kearsley 1987) and which, through advertising campaigns such as the 'The Southern Man' beer promotion, create a distinctively Kiwi sense of place and of belonging.
The Crown Pastoral Leases were formalised in the Land Act 1948 and state that leases, at very low rentals, should be renewable in perpetuity and confer full rights of occupancy. However, as stated, the land can only be used for pastoral activity. Other uses, such as forestry and many forms of tourism, such as skiing, are almost completely prohibited or only allowed after extensive bureaucratic procedures. The predominant land use is for sheep, with an emphasis on merinos and fine wools, so that about 70 percent of High Country incomes derive from wool and a further 16 percent from sheep and lamb meat (South Island High Country Review Working Party 1994). This is effectively a mono-culture and highly susceptible to market change, technological advance and environmental hazard, such as extreme snowfalls and drought. However, Ibell (1992, 1997) demonstrates a growing involvement in tourism on High Country stations.
Increasingly, the High Country is becoming marginal land with invasions of hieracium (hawkweed), wilding pines, rabbits and possums, among others. Many soils are eroded and degraded; much land has been retired from production. Climate change may bring even less rainfall to what is already dry country. In the longer term, these factors will lead to lower stocking rates and more land retirement, while farmers' response is limited by the requirement that only pastoral activity be undertaken. At the same time, Government has found the administration of the leases to be wholly unprofitable and, consequently has opted to review land tenure systems in the region (South Island High Country Review Working Party 1994). Since the mid-1990s, therefore, Government has moved to freehold many areas of pastoral land. In this process, run-holders are encouraged to relinquish land with high conservation values in return for freehold title to the better farming country that remains, typically at lower altitudes. Mark (1990) described the conservation value of much of the High Country and argued the case for a Conservation Park well before tenure review became an actuality. In this process, public access to recreational land is assured, with the more attractive landscapes becoming publicly available as reserves of various kinds. Commercial tourism becomes possible on the freehold land, where all activities become possible, subject, of course to the Resource Management Act 1991.
Recreational use of the High Country
The traditional use of the High Country was very much part of the Kiwi way of life and self image. Hunting for deer, thar, chamois and goats was widespread, while excellent fishing is available in rivers, lakes and high altitude irrigation dams. Tramping and camping is also popular, together with fossicking and gold-panning. In Otago, especially, gold was discovered in the High Country and associated rivers from 1861 onwards and much of the goldfields heritage product is in the high altitude grasslands. More modern activities include 4WD and trail bike trips, a growing involvement in cross-country skiing and limited snow-mobiling. Commercial tourism includes skiing and heli-skiing, rafting and kayaking, 4WD safaris and farm stays (Ibell 1997), but much activity is constrained by the terms of the Crown Pastoral leases. Traditionally, land-holders would permit open access, but increasing visitor nuisance and fears of liabilities under recent Occupational Safety and Health legislation have led some run-holders to close their properties to the public. This is particularly the case around the larger tourist resorts, such as Queenstown and Wanaka.
The tenure review of the High Country will add substantial areas of grassland and high altitude plateau country to the stock of conservation land and thus go some way to redressing the current over-emphasis on mountain and forest country. Similarly, it may provide alternative opportunities for outdoor recreation to those that already exist in the National parks and that are already under visitor pressure. In addition, there are many opportunities for the expansion of commercial tourism. These include developing further safari tours, such as the drive-yourself High Country trail that takes tourists from station to station in the South Canterbury High Country. In Otago, many presently inaccessible goldfields sites may be opened up, while there have already been attempts to set up snow-mobile tours in the Garvie Mountains. Cross-country skiing seems certain to expand enormously and it is a mystery as to why its current level of participation is so low. The opportunity to develop further sites such as the Waiora field at Cardrona may well stimulate demand. Ibell (1997) demonstrates that there is already a substantial home-stay industry in the High Country; this, too, is set to expand as ancillary activities and trips become available with the removal of the pastoral constraint.
Until recently, there has been little quantified knowledge of the nature and extent of recreational use and its possible consequences in the form of crowding, displacement and environmental impacts as perceived by owners, major interest groups and users. This paper reports on research towards these ends, carried out as part of a Sustainable Tourism Project that is funded from the Public Good Science Fund, administered by the New Zealand Government. The major interest of this research is in the continued sustainability of recreation in the High Country and associated areas, including information on problems landowners have with the use of their land for recreation, particularly where this indicates that the sustainability of use has already reached or exceeded a threshold.
Accordingly, in the first part of this process, a questionnaire survey was administered to 323 South Island High Country Pastoral in early 2000. Of these, 130 (40%) responded. Among the likely factors affecting the response rate was the fact that leaseholders expressed a distrust of organisations associated with Government funding, and that some information requested was perceived as possibly disrupting to the tenure renewal process. Indeed, of the 130 responses, three were not willing fully to complete the survey due to being in the process of tenure reform or renewal.
Estimated recreation use of the South Island High Country, based on this survey, is between 192,667 and 251,311 users per annum (a number of respondents quoted a range, rather than a single figure), although this is necessarily a conservative estimate. The reason for this is that these figures are based only on Pastoral Lease responses and would be somewhat larger if the relatively small amount of freehold land was included. Users of the South Island High Country participate in 51 separate activities as identified by respondent land operators; recreationists additionally create 58 distinct problems for the management of High Country land. Landowners also identified 63 distinct problems with the use of land for recreation generally. These results are elaborated below.
Problems with the use of land for recreation
The first question concerned the general relationships that leaseholders saw between recreation, tourism and pastoral activity. This question was posed in general terms and was not related to their own property alone. Around a half of respondents had no great difficulty with recreational use, and made comments such as on the whole, recreation is alright' or just a few people create problems for everyone'. However, 43 percent of the respondents believed that there were problems associated with the use of agricultural land for recreation. The main problem that was cited was with disturbance to stock. This was stated by 41 percent of respondents to this question, Table 1. Other problems were gates left open (30%), vehicles ripping up ground or tracks (16%), people not asking for permission and unauthorised fires or increased fire risk (16%). This latter is particularly serious because much of the High Country is very dry, especially in summer, so that fire risk is a major concern.
Table 1: Problems with the use of land for recreation
| Problem | Percent of Respondents |
|---|---|
| Stock disturbance - moved or mixed | 41.1% |
| Gates left open/leave gates as they find them | 30.4% |
| Vehicles ripping up ground or tracks | 16.1% |
| Unauthorised fires/increased fire risk | 16.1% |
| Lack of permission/trespassers | 16.1% |
| Rubbish | 10.7% |
| Dogs | 10.7% |
| Shooting without permission | 7.1% |
| Damage to fences and gates | 7.1% |
| General disregard to land or vegetation | 7.1% |
| Items being stolen - gates, gear, tractor batteries | 7.1% |
| As long as they show respect for the landowners and property | 7.1% |
| People think it's their right to use private roads | 5.4% |
| People think it's their right to use the land | 5.4% |
| Shooting farm animals | 3.6% |
| General disregard to land owners | 3.6% |
| OSH implications* | 3.6% |
| Bring in weed seed | 3.6% |
| Having to rescue or help people | 3.6% |
| Spread of Disease (TB, Gardia etc) | 3.6% |
| Other | 76.8% |
Note: Respondents could state more than one answer to this question
* Occupational Safety and Health legislation
Overall, 96 percent of the respondents had recreationists use their land. In terms of level of use, 27 percent of respondents had less than 50 recreationists use their land per year and 11 percent of respondents had more than 501 recreationists per year, Table 2. Nine percent of respondents stated that they did not know how many use their land and another six percent stated that "hundreds" do.
The areas with high user numbers were Lakes District, Central Otago and North Canterbury, with each having at least four properties experiencing over 501 visitors per a year or visitor rates in the hundreds per a year. The Lakes District, which includes the core premier resorts of Queenstown and Wanaka, represents 85 percent of the estimated total of South Island High Country recreationists. North Canterbury attracts substantial
Table 2: How many recreationists use your land per year?
| Number of recreationists per year | Percent of Respondents |
|---|---|
| Less than 50 | 26.6% |
| 50 - 100 | 16.5% |
| 101 -150 | 7.3% |
| 151 -200 | 8.3% |
| 201 - 250 | 5.5% |
| 251 - 300 | 4.6% |
| 451 - 500 | 1.8% |
| 501 or more | 11.0% |
| Hundreds | 6.4% |
| Don't know/many | 9.2% |
| Only trespassers | 0.9% |
| Too many - weekends and holidays people always around | 0.9% |
| Confidential due to tenure review | 0.9% |
numbers because of its close proximity to Christchurch, the South Island's premier city and main international gateway. All respondents from the other districts had use rates below 200 recreationists per property per annum.
Individual experiences of problems with Recreationists
55 percent of respondents had problems with recreationists using their own land. In general, these reflect the beliefs about the general use of land for recreation, but there are some differences. Again, common responses were that '95 percent of users create no problems at all' and 'it is only the people who do not ask permission that cause problems' were common responses. As with the problems with the use of land for recreation, gates left open (40%); people not asking permission (38%); and disturbance of stock (27%) were all prominent problems.
The Central Otago, Lakes District and Mid Canterbury areas experienced the most problems with recreationists. These, of course are the areas with the highest annual use rates. Conversely, the Tasman, Southland and Clutha areas experienced very few problems with recreationists, which is undoubtedly a reflection of the low numbers of recreationists in these more peripheral areas. Gates being left open was the major problem in Central Otago and Waitaki, whilst stock disturbance was the main problem in Mid Canterbury. A reasonably similar response of other problems was experienced between the areas.
Table 3: Problems with recreationists on own property
| Problems with Recreationists | Percentage of Respondents |
|---|---|
| Gates left open/leave gates as they find them | 39.7% |
| Lack of permission/trespassers | 38.2% |
| Stock disturbance - moved or mixed | 26.5% |
| Rubbish | 16.2% |
| Vehicles ripping up ground or tracks | 13.2% |
| Shooting without permission | 10.3% |
| Dogs | 8.8% |
| Damage to fences and gates | 8.8% |
| Having to rescue or help people | 8.8% |
| Unauthorised fires/increased fire risk | 7.4% |
| Items being stolen - gates, gear, tractor batteries | 7.4% |
| Incompatible recreation usage at the same time | 5.9% |
| People without permission usual the ones that cause problems | 5.9% |
| Poaching by unauthorised hunters | 5.9% |
| General disregard to land or vegetation | 5.9% |
| People think it's their right to use private roads | 4.4% |
| General disregard to land owners | 4.4% |
| Break into huts | 4.4% |
| Wood not replaced in huts | 2.9% |
| Shooting farm animals | 2.9% |
| Damage to tracks | 2.9% |
| Not making themselves known even when passed on the road | 2.9% |
| Fishermen don't ask | 2.9% |
| People think it's their right to use the land | 2.9% |
| Helicopter poaching - fish and deer | 2.9% |
| Environment damage | 2.9% |
| Other | 47.1% |
Note: Respondents could state more than one answer to this question
Recreational activities practised
When landholders were asked about the recreations practised on their properties, hunting was the most common activity, and was mentioned by 71 percent of respondents to this question, Table 4. The activity of hunting included deer, goat, rabbit, quail and pig hunting. Tramping was the second most prominent activity practised on 61 percent of respondents' land. Four Wheel Driving was undertaken on 43 percent of properties. These three activities featured prominently in all areas of the South Island High Country.
Table 4: Recreational activities practised
| Activity | Percentage of Respondents |
|---|---|
| Hunting | 71.3% |
| Tramping | 60.7% |
|
4WD driving |
42.6% |
| Fishing | 30.3% |
| Mountain biking | 19.7% |
| Skiing/snow sports | 17.2% |
| Horse trekking | 16.4% |
| Trail biking | 14.8% |
| Climbing | 11.5% |
| Camping | 6.6% |
| Botany/nature study | 4.1% |
|
Photography |
4.1% |
| Sightseeing | 3.3% |
| River rafting | 3.3% |
|
Hang gliding |
2.5% |
| Jet boating | 2.5% |
|
Access |
2.5% |
| Running | 1.6% |
| Gliding | 1.6% |
| Water sports | 1.6% |
| Paragliding/parapenting | 1.6% |
| Other | 18.9% |
Note: Respondents could state more than one answer to this question
Adventure activities are quite prominent, and it is likely that these are new uses. Even activities such as mountain biking are relatively new, although it is clear that they are of considerable importance.
Permission to use land for recreation
Almost everyone, 89 percent of respondents, required that recreationists request permission before using their land. However, it was noted by six percent of respondents to this question that they are unable to police or control the numbers of recreationists and that many people do not ask. A small number of respondents only requested that frequent or extensive users (such as schools or clubs) and commercial operators ask permission. In the main, respondents simply requested that users phone, write or see the owner in person before using the property for recreation purposes.
Charges to use land for recreation
15 percent of respondents charged recreationists for the use of their land. Another one percent only charged commercial or high user groups for use of their land. All the charges to use the land for recreation were activity specific; that is not all users were charged. Most charges were implemented where there was a cost to the land for upkeep, for example a fee for the maintenance of huts or tracks. The other fees implemented were for accommodation, guided tours or for skiing or snow sports, such as heliskiing.
References
Fitzharris B.B & Kearsley G.W. (1987) Appreciating Our High Country, in Holland P.G. & Johnston W.B. (eds) Southern Approaches, Dunedin 197-218.
Ibell J (1992) Tourism and Recreation on High Country Sheep Stations, Postgraduate Diploma in Tourism Dissertation, Centre for Tourism, University of Otago.
Ibell J (1997) Tourism and Recreation on High Country Sheep Stations, Unpublished Report, Centre for Tourism, University of Otago, Dunedin.
Kearsley G.W. (1997) Perceptions of Social and Physical Impacts upon New Zealand's Back Country Environments, in Opperman M. (ed) Pacific Rim Tourism, CABI Wallingford, 156-166.
Mark A F (1990) Ecological and Nature Conservation Values: the case for a Conservation Park, in Kearsley G W and Fitzharris B B (eds) Southern Landscapes: Essays in honour of Ray Hargreaves and Bill Brockie, Department of Geography, University of Otago, Dunedin, 233-274.
South Island High Country Review Working Party (1994) South Island High Country Review: Final Report, Ministers of Conservation, Agriculture and Environment, Wellington.