Impending closure of Waitākere Ranges has businesses wanting certainty

Friday, 2 March 2018

The effect on companies of the closure of the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park.

Businesses are crying out for clarity over the looming closure of a large and popular Auckland forest.

The council's move to close the Waitākere Ranges Regional Park by May 1 to protect against the spread of kauri dieback disease was unexpected.

An association of 113 tourism and hospitality providers in the area said the lack of a rough timeframe on when tracks might open again was making it impossible to plan for the future.

'People are anxious. It's their livelihoods, it's their ability to put food on the tables,' Waitākere Experience Networking Group chairwoman Pip Mandis said.

Pole Line Track is one of those currently closed to protect against the spread of kauri dieback disease.

* Auckland Council votes against full closure of Waitākere Ranges

* Volunteers out to deter public from Waitākere**

Pip Mandis says the closure of the park could well also close down her business, Awesome Walks.

'I don't think anybody has any idea of how stressful this period is.'

The councillors' vote on February 20 to close the ranges came 'completely out of the blue', she said – particularly as Mayor Phil Goff had said in December: 'There is no way that we can simply close the park and ensure that nobody goes into it.'

Mandis said her business Awesome Walks depended on people being able to tramp in the park.

She pulled out of a tourist trade fair in London this month, as she didn't know if she had a product to sell.

'There isn't an insurance policy that would cover against something like this,' she said.

'What will be opened? When will [tracks] start being opened? How long is the whole park closed for?

'Because to make informed decisions about the ability of a business to get through this, those questions are pivotal.'

Auckland Council regional parks manager Rachel Kelleher said it had been in touch with organisations who had contracts to use the park about the vote to close it and what would happen next.

'As we said in our email to concessionaires at the end of last week, right now, we don't have answers to every question, however we will be progressing this swiftly.

'We appreciate how important this is and people's patience while we work through it,' she said.

'We will be in further contact soon to set up opportunities for operators to provide us with feedback on the impact that this closure might have.'

The council was working with local iwi Te Kawerau ā Maki on what concessions could be given to operators, Kelleher said.

It also planned to talk with businesses adjacent to the park.

A PLEA TO THE PUBLIC

Pip Mandis said it would be better for businesses too if people would start respecting closed tracks.

'Many locals who have lived in this area all their lives feel that it is their right [but] the closure applies to everybody,' she said.

'What we don't want is in a year's time a media debacle about the irresponsibility of people who are contravening the closure and risking further spread of the disease.'

A timeframe would also help locals obey the closures, she said.

'I don't think people realise they wont be able to go for a walk that's at the end of their road. Their first question is going to be: 'Oh, for long?''

A SILVER LINING?

Although it was a difficult time, Mandis said there were positives that could come out of the situation.

The track network would be upgraded and might be better-planned, instead of one that had 'grown organically'.

'There is the potential to have a fabulous coastal walk where a kauri won't be affected at all,' she said.

'We are not blind to the fact that some great good will come out of it. It's just helping us to navigate a business through that period.'

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE TREES?

Kauri are dying from the incurable disease Phytophthora agathidicida, known as kauri dieback disease.

A council study in August 2017 found that nearly a quarter of trees in the park's 2571 hectares of kauri forest were by 2016 either infected or possibly infected.

This number had doubled within five years, and two-thirds of the infected kauri were within 50 metres of a walking track.

The scientists said it looked like the disease was mostly spread by soil on human feet – with 44 per cent of people not using cleaning stations.