PUBLIC NOTICE - Waitakere Ranges track closures

[AKL Regional Parks]

Good morning all

This is to confirm that Auckland Council will be closing 13 'kauri protection zones' in the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park to protect kauri from kauri dieback, from 1 July. 27km of track in the Waitakere Ranges Regional Park will be closed. These tracks, or parts of tracks, are home to some of the ranges most significant old giants of the forest – kauri trees.

You can of course still walk and geo-cache in the Waitakere Ranges, but please stay away from the following tracks:

• Robinsons Ridge Track – Cascade Kauri
• Chateau Mosquito – Anawhata
• RGB Track – Anawhata
• Walker Kauri Track – Waiatarua
• Dreamlands Track – Waiatarua
• Taumata Track – Waiatarua
• Lucy Cranwell Track – Piha
• La Trobe Track – Karekare
• Nuggets Track – Huia
• Crusher Pipeline Track – Parau
• Nihotupu Ridge Track – Parau
• Summit Track (between Nihotupu Ridge and Hamiltons Farley Track) – Parau
• Farley Track – Parau
• Bob Gordon Track – Mt Donald McLean
• Manchester Unity Block (between Victory Road and Big Muddy Creek) – Parau

A press release with more information can be found here http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/en/ourauckland/news/pages/aitakererangestrackclosures.aspx*


I will be attempting to contact all the cache owners that are located on or near these tracks and will be advising them to either relocate their cache or to archive it. No date has been set for re-opening of the tracks, it may be years in the future if at all.

I further implore the geocaching community to follow best practise when in the Waitakeres, or any Kauri neighbourhood by using the preventative measures of cleaning boots and equipment with the sprays and brushes provided at entry points. Any off track use in the Waitakeres is actively discouraged due to the impact on the park environment especially in relation to Kauri dieback, so please show due concern when locating new caches in the ranges. Please also be aware that we will be working with the moderators to ensure any new caches are located in appropriate locations in reference to the Kauri protection zones.

Reading that back, it sounds very bureaucratic which I apologise for! We are in no way discouraging geocaching in the Waitakeres, if the caches are in great locations, it is a perfect way to get people to the ranges that would have otherwise not visited. What we would love to do is partner with the geocaching community to get the Kauri die back message out into new networks, so I encourage anyone with Waitakere or Hunua ranges caches to include Kauri die back information on their cache page.

Signage will be going up on the tracks from the 1st of July. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me either via this message board, or by my contact details below.

Happy caching

Craig Bleakley | Team Leader - Recreation Services
Regional & Specialist Parks
Parks, Sport and Recreation
DDI 09 365 3185 | Extn (49) 6185 | Mob 021 366 260
craig.bleakley@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz
Auckland Council, Level 8, 8 Hereford St

*[Edit. Fixed linky] GEH

[the.pud]

Nice work Craig, thanks so much for the update.

[Lostcourse]

I am concerned that this level of track closure represents a disproportionate response to the issue of Kauri dieback. Claims that PTA is a new discovery and that it is an aggressive pathogen do not seem to be well supported by sound science. Consider the following report http://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/News-Events/News-Archive/2010-News-archive/Kauri-dieback-not-a-new-pathogen

[kiwilegend]

'Sound science' is not one guy's opinion, and particularly not one whose toes have apparently been trodden on. He states that it's the same, but gives no evidence to support that.
And how cheeky - closing tracks and denying you your recreation just on the off chance it might save some Kauri?

[ags]

'Sound science' is not one guy's opinion, and particularly not one whose toes have apparently been trodden on. He states that it's the same, but gives no evidence to support that.

I think if you do a bit of searching in Google, you'll find he's well qualified and well placed to make those comments. I'll agree the article linked is not well written, but again you have to look a bit further than that article. After you do look around, you'll also find that the Auckland Council (formerly Auckland Regional Council) have been working with Peter Gagdil. Science has always been best progressed by healthy debate, and I'm all for this debate.

And how cheeky - closing tracks and denying you your recreation just on the off chance it might save some Kauri?

In the past I've seen the concerns of unexplained dieback in the beech forest, and the apparent imminent extinction of cabbage trees due to phytoplasma. The beech forest dieback turned out to be a natural occurrence that just happens, and the cabbage tree, well it's doing just fine too.

The link between humans on tracks transferring kauri dieback PTA is not fully understood yet. It may be in a few years we'll decide that there isn't a link after all. In the mean time, I fully agree with closing the tracks.

However the bush country in the Waitakeres is very rugged, covered in impenetrable undergrowth and heavily bluffed with the streams deeply gorged. In addition some of these tracks are very old, dating back to the timber milling days. I find Craig's comment - "no date has been set for re-opening of the tracks, it may be years in the future if at all" - to be sad and disturbing. Once the tracks become overgrown, access to large chunks of the Waitakeres is effectively lost forever, even if the kauri dieback fizzles out.

Yes, we must close the tracks at present, but could we please have an annual review?

And while I'm moaning, how about Auckland Council looks at reopening Marama Track? It was closed probably before I was born; because it was on private land, I think. It's a pretty, but horribly rugged, little valley. The land is now in park ownership and it would make a great addition to the track system.

[AKL Regional Parks]

Thanks for your response AGS, you can be assured that there will be reviews completed by the bio-security and joint agency teams, at least annually, if not more often for some tracks.

I assume the Marama Track used to follow the Marama Stream up to the Donald McLean/Fletcher Track junction? That would be a very gnarly tramp up that valley! I will have a chat with the Huia Rangers next time I am out that way and get their opinion on it.

Cheers

Craig

[ags]

Thanks for your response AGS, you can be assured that there will be reviews completed by the bio-security and joint agency teams, at least annually, if not more often for some tracks.

Thanks for that reassurance.

I assume the Marama Track used to follow the Marama Stream up to the Donald McLean/Fletcher Track junction? That would be a very knarly tramp up that valley! I will have a chat with the Huia Rangers next time I am out that way and get their opinion on it.

Yes, but the top end was a bit more south, in the little saddle that the Donald McLean Track drops into. As I remember, the country was awful (yes, gnarly!), but the track was surprisingly comfortable - which is why I mention it. I'll put together a bit more info and email you.