fragileplaces

Fragile Places

Kaipara's outstanding dune systems are under threat from human impacts - both from vehicle damage and from pollution.

The dunes along the western side of South Head and at Papakanui Spit represent one of the best remaining dune assemblages in the Auckland region and in New Zealand.

A recent visit to this area revealed the extent of damage from recreational activities. Many areas of native dune plants like pingaio and spinifex are damaged from the impact of off-road vehicles, especially motorbikes and quad bikes. When these plants die-back, the dunes are more vulnerable to wind erosion.

The dunes at Papakanui Spit are also strewn with rubbish in places and the after-effects of people camping in the area. Vehicles are also driven around the mudflats of Waionui lagoon at low tide with people camping on the coast to fish or picnic, often leaving their rubbish behind.

This is despite the area being gazetted as a conservation area and wildlife refuge by the Department of Conservation. The spit and Waionui inlet include the Ti Tree Island Conservation Area, and the Papakanui Spit Wildlife Refuge within the Papakanui Spit and Ti Tree Island Stewardship Areas.

The Department of Conservation is failing to protect these conservation areas and their wildlife from vehicle impacts on the fragile dune systems, by failing to prevent vehicle access.

Under the Conservation Act, protection of indigenous vegetation and wildlife should be the Department's top priority. Unfortunately, the balance has shifted towards the Department's requirement to allow recreational activities in these areas.

Vehicles access the beach from several places on South Head and from Muriwai, and drive north into the conservation areas at Papakanui Spit.

Despite the commonly held belief that Muriwai-Rangitira Beach is a designated road - it is not. The Transport Act laws mean that the beach is deemed a road, only to allow any vehicle operating on a beach to be checked for registration, warrant and speeding offences. A beach is not a legal or any other sort of road. A Rodney District Council bylaw forbids any person to operate a vehicle on a beach, except to directly launch or retrieve a boat - unless they get written permission from the Council.

As well as the pollution and degradation, there is considerable disturbance to roosting and nesting birds when vehicles are allowed into the dunes. This includes endangered endemic birds such as the rare NZ Fairy Tern and the NZ Dotterel, as well as roosting and feeding populations of our rare Wrybill.

When you visit Papakanui Spit now, the noise of off-road vehicles such as motorbikes, quad bikes and 4WDs is often an integral part of the experience of what should be a wilderness area.

Fragile places like Papakanui Spit and Waionui Inlet should not be sacrificed to a minority of recreational users who despoil and degrade these environments.

Suzi Phillips

Vehicles "off" beaches

Many coastal birds breed on the beaches of the Kaipara Harbour. These include the critically endangered Fairy Tern and the rare New Zealand Dotterell, as well as Variable Oystercatchers, White-fronted Terns and Caspian Terns. All these birds nest on the foreshore, usually in the areas of sand between the dunes and the high tide zone. Their nests are simple scrapes in the sand containing well-camouflaged eggs.

Vehicles driven on beaches risk disturbing nesting birds and destroying nests. This is especially a risk in the Papakanui Spit area where vehicles are driven up from Muriwai Beach to the sand dunes.

Many of these vehicles keep to the hard sand and are used by fishermen who are surf casting on the beach. The problem vehicles are those driven into the dunes by people interested in recreational 4-wheel drive adventure. These vehicles risk damage to the beach dune ecosystem and disturbance to breeding birds.

Kaipara Forest and Bird wants to educate beach users to be aware of breeding birds and avoid disturbing birdlife on the coast, by not driving over dunes and confining their activity to the hard sand between the high and low-tide zones.