Vehicles OFF our beaches

Kaipara Forest and Bird is campaigning to raise awareness about the need to ban vehicles from our beaches and sand dune systems.

We strongly believe that a total ban on vehicles on the 60km stretch of iconic west coast beach from Muriwai Beach to Papakanui Spit is the only way to protect the beach and dune environment, protect wildlife, and ensure public safety.

The dune areas along this coast and at Papakanui Spit are a dynamic ecosystem that were once common on the west coast, but are now nationally rare.  This area, according to the Department of Conservation’s Conservation Management Strategy (CMS 2005) for South Head, “represents the best remaining dune assemblage in the Auckland region, and one of the best remaining in New Zealand”. 

Muriwai–Te Oneone Rangatira Beach is also of spiritual significance to Maori as it forms part of the pathway followed by the spirits of the dead on their journey to Cape Reinga.

In the Department of Conservation’s last Auckland CMS, Conservation Park status was proposed for the South Head/Papakanui Spit area, and the report called for increased support for the heritage values there.

The CMS also noted conflicts between activities such as the use of off-road vehicles in the area …. and protection of the natural dune formations, vegetation and wildlife values.   The difficulty of enforcing controls on vehicles entering the wildlife refuge area at the top of the spit, from the beach was also noted.

At present, vehicles progressing up Te One One Rangatira Beach continue unhindered into the Conservation estate and wildlife refuge at Papakanui Spit, threatening the breeding and roosting areas of rare and threatened native and endemic birds, as well as nationally and internationally significant populations of migratory waders and other wildlife.

 Why is a ban on vehicles on beaches necessary ?

•  because any vehicle damage to the dunes and beach environment is unacceptable and irreparable.  Or to put it another way, no damage is sustainable.
• because any vehicle disturbance of feeding, roosting and nesting coastal birds is unacceptable.
• to preserve the wilderness and coastal heritage values of areas like Muriwai Te Oneone Rangatira Beach and Papakanui Spit and to ensure the safety of people who are enjoying these values by removing the intrusion and accompanying risks of vehicle passage, and of noise from this experience.
• to prevent vehicle damage to beach foreshore and sand dune environments, particularly the damage done from vehicle tracks that destroys dune vegetation, break down the dune system and cause increased coastal erosion along this foreshore area.
• so that access roads can be blocked before the foreshore and dunes, and carparks established to encourage people to walk to the sea for recreational pursuits such as fishing, camping, beach-combing, and bird-watching, resulting in better outcomes for public health as well as the environment. 
• to stop intrusion into conservation estate land, on coastal strips such as on the west coast beaches and at the top of South Head.  

The Rodney District Council’s strategy and planning department has invited comment on their proposals for setting speed limits on Muriwai-Te Oneone Rangatira Beach – a beach fringed by sand dune systems extendingfrom Muriwai to Papakanui Spit.

Before responding to the proposed speed limits, we commented on matters of law affecting access on the beach, as these affect the setting of these speed limit bylaws. 
We agreed with them that conflict is occurring between user groups causing safety concerns … and that “thoughtless use of off-road vehicles was causing damage to the sensitive beach environment and dune ecology” there.

We took issue with their statement that …”the right of all types of vehicles to use the beach should be recognized …”   
We have sought a legal opinion from a respected environmental lawyer, and he concluded that ;

 “Neither section 7 of the Foreshore and Seabed Act nor the Land Transport Act provides a policy justification for allowing continued use of public beaches by vehicles.  The Council has complete discretion to regulate that activity on beaches, including to ban their use.”

 And further that, “provided the justification for the ban was relevant and reasonable, there is no difficulty in passing the Bylaw seeking a ban.  Such a ban would stand up to challenge.”

 He also said that “The Land Transport Act does not grant a right of public access to a beach by vehicle.  The ONLY area where the LTA applies is between MHWS and MLWS.  This is not a right of access, but is for the purposes of enabling Police to enforce traffic law.”

 Rodney District Council already has a bylaw enacted that can be used to ban vehicles from the beach.  This is contained in the RDC Bylaws, Chapter 14, 5.1 (d) that states the public cannot, “take any vehicle on to a beach except by the most direct route to launch or recover a boat.”  We have suggested that the Council enforce this bylaw on Muriwai Beach along with appropriate signs and promotion.

 Regulating speed is the wrong approach

 Our argument is that there is no right of access to the beach and so regulating speed is the wrong approach.  It will also not be possible for the Police to adequately enforce these speed restriction bylaws.   That would require a Police presence that is beyond the capability of the Police to provide. 

 The justification for a ban is in the need to protect public safety, pedestrian enjoyment of the beach, and the dune ecosystem and wildlife.  There is also justification for a ban in terms of there being no effective way of preventing vehicles leaving the (what is considered by some to be), legal public access (ie the area below Mean High Water Springs), and traversing the back-beach, causing damage to the dune ecosystem and disturbance to wildlife.  The only way to effectively achieve the above is to ban vehicles from the beach.

We have pointed out that the significant speed difference between a pedestrian at walking speed and a vehicle travelling at 60km/hr is too great without the protection of defined footpath and roadway.  We suggested that a speed limit closer to 10kph offers better pedestrian safety, subject to the police being there to enforce it.

There is a recent legal precedent for a responsibility on authorities to be aware of the downstream effects of their decisions on the safety of the public. It can now be argued in court that a decision to allow motor vehicle use on the beach, subject to a speed restriction that cannot be adequately enforced, is not showing sufficient care for public safety.

The Council’s draft speed restriction proposal included two areas of beach that should ban vehicles.  These were at the southern high public use end of Muriwai Beach and at the northern end, extending from the boundary of the Defence Force land and including Papakanui Spit and the wildlife refuge.

While this is proposal is a significant improvement, it is not sufficient to protect the public’s right to safely enjoy the rest of the beach.  Nor will it adequately protect the sand dune ecosystems that stretch between the two areas, nor the coastal birdlife, or their critical nesting areas.

Although the Department of Conservation appears not to have the resources to actively enforce a ban on vehicles in Conservation land such as the Papakanui Spit Wildlife Refuge, it can help the situation by supporting any regional or local council call for a ban on vehicles and in doing so, sharing in the favourable result such a ban would have for conservation lands and associated ecosystems.

We are calling for Rodney District Council to ban vehicles from beaches, including the entire extent of Muriwai Te Oneone Rangatira Beach. 

We hope that the Department of Conservation and the Auckland Conservation Board will also want to protect these sand dune ecosystems and associated wildlife, by supporting a call for a ban on vehicles on our beaches.

 Copyright Suzi Phillips 2008

Kaipara's Fragile Places under threat

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.