This page created 8/11/2000 / updated 24 January 2001
Po 075
Birchwood Station
Ahuriri Valley
Otago Land District
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Po 075 Birchwood
"A combination of alpine, sub-alpine grassland, forest, and river settings provides one of the most attractive valleys in Otago and South Canterbury for a variety of recreational activities"
Public Access New Zealand
Monday, 30 October 2000
Chief Executive
Waitaki District Council
20 Thames Street
OAMARU
Dear Sir
Birchwood Road is a legal road vested in your Council for the purposes of a public highway.
At cattleyards approximately 2 km upvalley from the Birchwood Station homestead, a locked gate obstructs the road. We are advised that this lock has been in place for some time.
Survey records reveal that the locked gate is on legal road. In particular, the road formation in this locality was confirmed back in 1989 as the legal road alignment by survey up its centre-line (SO 22978), and by a consequent compiled road redefinition plan (SO 22979).
Your council has statutory authority over public roads under your control. Under section 357 Local Government Act 1974, it is an offence for any person to obstruct a public road. Additionally, under common law, Council cannot lawfully authorise obstructions that amount to 'appreciable interference' with the public right of unhindered passage at all times.
Please urgently advise what Council is doing to have this obstacle removed, and to prosecute the person or persons responsible for its erection and continuing presence.
Yours faithfully
Bruce Mason
Secretary
cc. Mr RM Williamson
Birchwood Run Limited
Private Bag
Omarama
Denial of access nothing new
...nor is official dereliction and ineptitude in dealing with entrenched interests, invariably at the expense of the wider public interest
David Westcott. 1982. Land Use Study of the Ohau-Ahuriri Area. University of Otago, Dunedin
Ahuriri Valley - "the only major valley without unimpeded road access to end of road formation - access sometimes denied - contributes to valley's low usage".
FMC Annual Report 1983
Ahuriri Valley
Throughout the last year there has been continuing problems of
obtaining runholder consent for access to the Upper Ahuriri Valley.
This is despite the existence of a formed legal road up the valley
floor to State Forest and Crown Land areas.
It appears that unauthorised occupation of Crown Land Recreation Area ( U.C.L. 'map reserve') in the valley floor, upvalley from the vicinity of the NZFS Base Hut, is to be formalised by Lands and Survey incorporating this extensive area into the Birchwood Pastoral Lease. Existing public vehicle rights beyond the homestead are planned to be curtailed with only foot access as of right.
Upper Canyon Creek and Mt Barth (2430 m) remain in pastoral
lease with no public use rights above the State Forest, FMC is
pressing for extension of access to Mt Barth and the upper Ahuriri
Valley.
FMC Annual Report 1984
Ahuriri Valley - Mackenzie Basin
Consent for access to State Forest and U.C. L. in the Upper Ahuriri
continues to be erratic and frequently appears to be unreasonably
denied by the lessee of Birchwood Station.
During the year the Federation consulted member clubs, Forest Service and sister organisations over this issue, as well as corresponding and meeting with the Department of Lands end Survey.
A yet to be executed agreement between Lands and the pastoral lessee (Mr R.M. Williamson), entails foot access at all times along the existing vehicle track to Canyon Creek and beyond Shamrock Hut. This is from a shortened public road-end at the cattleyards approximately 3 km up valley from the homestead. This will provide access to the State Forest and to riverbed U.C.L. Ieading to the head of the valley. The legal 'paper' road will be closed where it deviates from the existing track formation.
Mr Williamson will occupy the track formation under a Special Lease (Section 67(2) Land Act 1948). Public vehicle access up valley from the cattleyards will be at the discretion of Mr Williamson, 'provided that such approval should not be unreasonably or arbitrarily withheld.'
Unfortunately there is no provision in the agreement for foot access to State Forest in the upper Dingle Burn.
Pastoral occupation of 730 ha of valley floor U.C.L. will be legalised by incorporation into the Birchwood pastoral lease. The Commissioner of Crown Lands has advised that this deal is conditional on the surrender from the pastoral lease of 5870 ha of mountain country between Little Canyon Creek and the northern Barrier Range, including Mts Barth and Huxley [and confirmed by the terms of Minister of Forest's approval in 1973 of the 730 ha being excluded from state forest to become UCL, to enable the deal to proceed]. The greater portion of the Barrier Range will remain in the pastoral lease. The access/surrender agreement should be effective by the time this report is published [still not effective - 2000]
FMC Bulletin No. 85. March 1986
SHAMEFUL DEPARTMENTAL ACTION ON AHURIRI ACCESS
For several years FMC has been pressing the Department of Lands and Survey to safeguard the public interest by guaranteeing unrestricted access to the magnificent Ahuriri Valley south of Mt. Cook National Park. Little progress has been made with the difficult runholder of Birchwood Station. Now FMC has just learned that 597 hectares of Unoccupied Crown Land in the valley floor are to be added to the Birchwood pastoral lease without, it appears, any satisfactory quid pro quo. FMC's pastoral lands convenor, David Henson, issued a public statement condemning the Department's capitulation:
"The land is the floor of a magnificent mountain valley and was originally State Forest controlled by NZ Forest Service. About ten years ago it was detached from the surrounding forest and transferred to Lands & Survey as a Crown land recreation area. It is open grassland and is grazed extensively by stock from neighbouring Birchwood run. It is important to know that there is no legal basis for this use as the land is not part of the lease and the runholder does not have any rights to graze it.
The Department intends to tidy up this problem by adding the land to Birchwood's lease. For some years FMC and other outdoor organisations have been trying to obtain reasonable safeguards for natural values and recreational access as a condition of this transfer. We have had little success. The stock trespassing on this area are denuding the surrounding forest of revegetation, overgrazing the valley tussocklands and damaging prime wetlands. The Ahuriri River has recently been protected by a National Water Conservation Order and such over-use of adjoining land is clearly incompatible.
There is also a longstanding access problem. Permission to cross Birchwood Run and even the Crown Land is often refused. There is a public road through the run to the Crown Land beyond which has been improved for public vehicle use by NZ Forest Service. The runholder claims the right to control vehicle traffic on this road. Yet no one has a legal right to control public roads adjacent to their property. Despite this the Department intends to close the legal road and grant the runholder a special lease over the road line giving him the control he seeks. This proposal is totally unacceptable to us...we are therefore compelled to publicly oppose the transfer proposal."
FMC Bulletin No. 86. June 1986
THE AHURIRI- A RAW DEAL FROM THE LAND SETTLEMENT BOARD
Bulletin 85 of March 1986 included an FMC statement on access and land use problems in the Ahuriri Valley, North Otago. FMC has been negotiating with the Department of Lands & Survey for several years trying to improve this situation. Our public statement was issued in response to news that the Land Settlement Board was likely to accede to the runholder's wish on virtually all aspects of this problem. The Board has since considered the question further. It has provided for better access in part but still intends to legitimise stock trespass by incorporating Unoccupied Crown Land with important natural values in the lease. The elements of this problem are:
ROAD AND FOOT ACCESS
There is a formed vehicle road to Canyon Creek and a 4WD track
up the valley beyond through the Unoccupied Crown Land. The lessee
has always claimed the right to control access and there has been
a history of refusals. The route is legal road except for one
minor deviation. The Board has decided to legalise the whole line
thus guaranteeing vehicle access to Canyon Creek and foot access
beyond. This is the only improvement in the Board's stance.
THE VALLEY FLOOR UNOCCUPIED CROWN LAND
The Board intends to proceed with its earlier decision to incorporate
597 ha of Crown Land in Birchwood Pastoral Lease. The area is
more crucial than its size indicates. It is much of the valley
floor in the upper 20 km of the Ahuriri. Sustained grazing is
damaging the open grasslands and surrounding forests. The impact
is particularly severe on valley wetlands. The Ahuriri is the
only remaining natural river flowing into the Waitaki Basin and
is theoretically protected by a National Water Conservation Order.
The value of this is greatly diminished by inappropriate land
use surrounding its head waters. In a reply to a recent letter
from a Royal Forest & Bird Society member, the Minister of
Lands, Mr Koro Wetere stated that the land has been "an integral
part of the Station in farming terms for decades". Maybe
so-but this has been without benefit of lease or permit for all
this time.
The Board proposes to protect important natural areas on the Unoccupied Crown Land and two elsewhere by conservation covenants. Actual areas and conditions have not yet been determined but rely on a provision that there will not be "increased grazing".
FMC recognises grazing as an acceptable use of this land providing it is kept in balance with natural values. This can best be achieved under a grazing permit rather than permanent alienation.
ACCESS TO SIDE VALLEYS
While the Board has provided for a guaranteed access route up
the valley there is no legal provision to visit some of the side
valleys. The lessee has agreed to foot access out of the Ahuriri
to the Dingleburn, but this is mainly through State Forest. The
Board claims that it is providing access up Snowy Creek and Hodgkinson
and Watson Streams by writing Section 58 strips (i.e. riparian
strips) into the lease. These already exist in law regardless
of the lease. Owing to the geography of the area they do not provide
practical routes. If the Unoccupied Crown Land is incorporated
in the lease there will be no legal right to leave the main road
line and cross the flats to these streams. Such vague access situations
are not uncommon in the high country and do not normally present
a practical problem. However in the case of the Ahuriri there
have been major access problems. This part of the proposal will
actually decrease public rights to free access from the main route
to the side valleys.
SURRENDER OF HIGH LAND
Many pastoral leases contain high land unsuitable for grazing.
The Ahuriri Valley is a particular example of this problem. Above
the valley floor the land rises steeply to spectacular peaks including
Mt Barth (2045 metres) and Mt Huxley (2102 metres). This country
is truly alpine and is not only unsuitable for grazing but also
mainly physically incapable of such use. It is often legally separated
from the valley floor by intervening State Forest. Because of
historical anomalies, approximately 15,000 ha. of this type of
land lies within the lease. Removal of all this land would not
cause loss of any pasturage. Despite this, the Board is requiring
surrender of only one third, principally the alpine cirque above
Canyon Creek.
THE PROBLEM
In Mr Wetere's letter quoted above he also says "Those making
public statements do not of course make the point, well-known
to them, that a package is involved which incorporates aspects
very much in the public interest. I find this most disappointing".
in view of the Minister's disappointment it is useful to summarise
the package to see how balanced it is.
A better deal would be to grant a long term grazing permit in exchange for surrender of all alpine land. There is no fundamental need to trade off public access up the valley at all. The Board's duty is simply to enforce it.
David Henson
P 75 Birchwood (23,780 ha),
Otago Land District
Prepared by FMC/Forest and Bird Pastoral Lands
Working Group
25 June 1984
This pastoral lease [was] due for renewal on 1 July 1984 [not done, however in 1998 the term was extended until 2017]
Topography
This lease occupies the mountainous headwaters of the Ahuriri
River and extends over the Waitaki-Clutha divide into the head
of the Dingle Burn.
The crest of the Barrier Range provides the eastern boundary and with the exception of the Watson-Maitland Saddle (5,800 feet), is an unbroken chain of rugged peaks over 7,000 feet high. The notable peaks are Mts St Mary 7,650 feet and Maitland 7,350 feet.
The Barrier Range joins the Ahuriri-Hunter divide at Mt Huxley (8,200 feet), the south face of which presents a sheer ampitheature 4,000 feet high at the head of the Ahuriri Valley. The western boundary is along the Hunter divide between 6,500 feet and 8,000 feet on Mt Barth. The Thurneyson Glacier occupies a ciroue in the hanging Canyon Creek, being the most obvious indicator of the alpine character of much of this run.
The Ahuriri River follows a braided course in a well graded bed, dropping from 3,200 feet at the upper flats to 2,500 feet at the homestead, a distance of 27 kilometres. Oxbow lakes, ponds and swamps become more extensive down valley, culminating in a 170 hectare wetland near the homestead. A large proportion of the valley floor (730 ha) is U.C.L. that is unofficially occupied by the pastoral lessee.
Vegetation
Alpine barren occupy extensive areas of the Barrier Range and
the Ahuriri-Hunter divide. Only occasional highly specialised
plants such as vegetable sheep and scree plants have colonised
such harsh environments. Herbfields are limited to cirque floors
and lower ridges, being isolated by extensive screes.
Tall tussock provides a relatively narrow belt on valley walls, between the alpine zone and bushline, or valley floor outwash fans. The two catchment authorities that share soil and water conservation responsibilities for the run, consider that depletion of tall tussock grasslands is severe to extreme.
Short, hard tussock and sward grasses have succeeded tall tussock on valley floors, although red tussock survives in the homestead wetland. In the lower valley matagouri is more prominent. Beech forest, grading up valley from mountain to silver, forms a discontinuous belt above the valley on both sides. Isolated clumps on the lower Barrier Range and the homestead faces of Mt Gladwish indicate that within historical times its range was considerably more extensive than at present. The more contiguous areas are state forest, and isolated patches are incorporated into the pastoral lease. Subalpine shrubland occurs locally as a narrow belt above bushline. Dracophyllum species, snow totara and mountain toa toa dominate.
Land Use Capability
The greater area of the run consists of Class VIII lands right
down to bushline. Unforested lower slopes and the forest itself
is Class VII. It is only on valley floors and outwash fans that
there are any lands suitable for pastoralism. The short tussock
grasslands in the valley floor are Class Vl, with the best potential
pastoral land in the homestead wetland (Class V).
Pastoralism should be confined to the main valley floor, lower Snowy Gorge Stream and the floor of the Dingle Burn, provided that conservation values are not jeapordised. This means that the developable potential of wetlands must not be realised.
Wildlife
The Ahuriri River is now subject to a national water conservation
order in recognition of its international significance as wildlife
habitat.
Black Stilt, New Zealand's rarest wader, reside year-round in the valley and make use of all wetlands during the course of the year. The extensive homestead oxbow lagoons are a major breeding area, however part of this area has already been drained. Black Stilt have also been recorded breeding at the Canyon Creek confluence and adjacent to Watson Stream.
All these wetlands are also important for other waders and waterfowl, as are several more areas in the valley floor. These include a wetland near the Forest Service Ahuriri Base, a Carex bog near the cattleyards (partly drained) and several small ponds.
Very little has been recorded of bird species in the forest and subalpine grasslands, however species diversity is probably similar to adjacent mountain areas.
Recreation
A combination of alpine, sub-alpine grassland, forest, and river
settings provides one of the most attractive valleys in Otago
and South Canterbury for a variety of recreational activities.
Despite a long history of pastoral abuse of the landscape (ie
forest clearance, burning, depletion of snowgrass), there are
sufficient compelling features remaining for the run to still
have very high recreational values.
Canyon Creek and the Ahuriri River and wetlands are the two gems on the run. The spectacular sequence of bushed canyon, hanging valley, glacier, and prominent snow-ridged Mt Barth draws trampers and climbers from throughout Otago and Canterbury. This, and crossings into the Dingle Burn have been regularly featured in mountain clubs' trip programmes ever since road access to the Birchwood homestead has been all weather. Other frequently used routes are climbs of Mt Huxley from the head of the valley, and crossings into the Maitland Stream via Snowy Gorge Creek. However it is known from club records and from private parties' experiences, that mountaineering activity has decreased as a direct consequence of the frequently erratic and unreasonable responses of the pastoral lessee to requests for access from responsible groups and individuals. A variety of specious reasons are given tojustify refusal of access. These include 'stock disturbance' in areas which were later found to be destocked, 'closures by the Forest Service due to 'fire risk' when the Forest Service have confirmed that they have never closed the valley, and for 'safety due to the presence of shooters'. in the latter case, the onus for safety lies with the firearm user, not the general public.
F.M.C. has documented several recent cases where refusals have been unreasonably denied, including a case where an alpine instruction course was refused access on arrival at the homestead after obtaining consents over the telephone a fortnight and the night before.
This unsatisfactory situation is widely known throughout Otago and Canterbury and is providing a deterrant to parties wishing to recreate in the area. Alternative areas are often selected to avoid the risk of expending considerable time and money traveling to Birchwood only to be refused access. It is an intolerable situation that a State Forest Recreation Area and an internationally important river can be effectively 'locked up' at the whim of a private individual. Although exclusive rights of occupation are held by the lessee over the full extent of the run, it is reprehensible that public use of vast tracts of mountain country can be prohibited when it is not stocked, and may well not be permitted to be stocked by the lease's personal block stock limitations.
Further to this case, the lessee's refusals of access have in many instances had no legal basis, yet his position is being further consolidated by local and some central government indifference to public rights and needs. This is highlighted by the continuing presence of a 'private property - trespassers will be prosecuted' sign on the boundary gate to the run - eight gates before the end of the formal legal road. Repeated requests to the Waitaki County Council to have this removed have been to no avail [it was finally removed by a member of the public].
To date the lessee has no legal right over the valley floor U.C.L. adjacent to the state forest. Provided a visitor is prepared to walk approximately 200 metres over legal road where it deviates from the formed road to the U.C.L. boundary, there are no legal restraints on access to the U.C.L., state forest or river. Yet the intention of Lands and Survey to issue a special lease over the road formation, to close the legal roads, and to incorporate the U.C.L. into the pastoral lease will provide a legal basis for continuing to refuse public vehicle access.
Ironically the upgrading of vehicle access to Canyon Creek has been specifically to encourage public use of the State Forest Recreation Area. The [former] Forest Service spent in excess of $8,000 on this, compared with a known cost of only $270 by the pastoral lessee. His farming operation has benefited considerably from this State input and also by the granting of access rights to him through state forest to allow convenient stock access to the Dingle Burn.
To our groups' knowledge there have been no reciprocating gestures in return.
It is now overdue for the public's rights to be asserted and expanded.
The Crown needs to take a firmer stance with this lessee, and to use the proposed incorporation of the U.C.L. into the pastoral lease as a bargaining point to achieve public and conservation needs over the whole lease. This is a realistic proposition when the area and Land Use Capability of the U.C.L. is compared to the negligible value of most of the run.
Recommendations
A. No occupation rights be issued over all or part of the valley floor U.C.L. until the following are achieved:
1. Identification of all wetlands on the U.C.L. for reservation for wildlife management purposes.
2. All wetlands on pastoral lease are surrendered for reservation for wildlife management purposes.
3. Immediate prohibition of further wetland drainage until 1 and 2 are implemented.
4. Binding legal agreements for surrender of all high country Class VII and VIII lands from the lease, to become U.C.L.
5. Surrender for state forest or reserve designation of all remnant beech forest in the lease.
6. Realignment of legal road to follow existing formation as far as Canyon Creek and 4WD track to upper valley.
7. If legal road unacceptable to County Council, then Crown Land easement for public foot and vehicle access at all times.
8. Provision of public access at regular intervals to the river.
9. A foot access easement from Ahuriri Base to Dingle Burn State Forest and down valley.
10. Legal foot access up Snowy Gorge Creek, Hodgkinson and Watson Streams to U.C.L. on Barrier Range.
11. Removal of illegal sign on boundary gate and replacement by sign specifying public access rights and advice that it is a dry weather vehicle access to be used at the driver's risk.
PANZ endorses the above approach. We do not support the earlier land and access deal which dates back to 1973, and which has not been implemented. Birchwood Station continues to 'occupy' the Crown land in the valley floor. Meanwhile sheep and cattle graze and dung-out all the forest margins that are supposed to be public conservation areas. Repeated requests by PANZ to the Commissioner of Crown Lands (LINZ) or DOC for information about what they are doing to improve the situation rarely result in meaningful replies, if at all.
Meanwhile DOC staff at the nearest office in Twizel continue to pass out misinformation to intending visitors, with the effect of dissuading visitation to the valley. PANZ was variously informed on 20 October 2000 that -
- It was "only reasonable" to ask for permission because of lambing (despite the area being Unoccupied Crown Land and conservation area)
- Permission is needed from Mr Williamson to go beyond the homestead (3 km before the yards)
- Permission is needed to go beyond the yards (when the inquirer remarked that there is a legal road beyond there, he was told there was a right to walk, not to drive, because Williamson does maintenance work).
This advice is garbage. It is little wonder that most people, not being in the legal know, are deterred from visiting this beautiful area. When DoC officers are either so grossly ignorant of the situation on the ground and of the law, or so willfully misleading, there is cause for wondering whose interests they really serve. They are not alone. They are carrying on an institutional tradition inherited from their predecessor, the Department of Lands and Survey, and as practiced by the present administrator of Crown lands, Land Information NZ, that has resoundedly failed to advance the legitimate public interest for nearly 30 years.
See also:
Ahuriri Valley. B Mason. Forest & Bird, November 1984. pdf doc 1.5 MB
Outdoor Recreation in Otago, Lindis - Ahuriri. B Mason. FMC, 1989. pdf doc 1.6 MB
Birchwood Station. A case for surrender of land unsuitable for grazing. FMC, NZ Acclimatisation Societies, Forest & Bird. 1986. pdf doc 2.1 MB
"The Commissioner of Crown Lands believes the lessees adopt a reasonable attitude to persons seeking access through the property and seldom inhibits or denies access. When this occurs, it is for the purpose of safety".
Land Settlement Board, Case 10120, December 1985.
Prior to 1989, the only public road to the valley-head was an unsurveyed line shown on survey plans dating from at least 1891. This approximated an early track. This road is excluded from the title to Birchwood Station. Imprecision in the record of its alignment does not derogate from its status as 'legal road' or from the public right of use. In the absence of 'right lining' or 'fixing' its position by a survey traverse, under survey law evidence of a track on the ground provides the highest level of proof of alignment, irrespective of where early plans may show it to exist.
PANZ has no knowledge of the road's alignment prior to the erection of the yards, however an inexplicable 'kink' in the present-day road formation (not shown on early plans), and traces of ruts the other side of the yards (and planted willows), lends support to the accusation by the Geraldine Tramping Club that the yards were positioned to obstruct the road. If this is correct, the double gates in front of the vehicle would have been on private property, and the runholder was entitled to bar public access. The near gate is where the recent lock has been placed.
However in 1989 the Chief Surveyer approved a 'redefinition' of the road alignment as a result of a traverse up the centre-line of the existing formation. For most of its length the formation was close enough to the approximation of its alignment appearing on earlier plans that the CS deemed the present alignment to be the legal road. He has such discretion under law.
There is now no doubt that the gates are on the legal alignment. Obstruction of public passage by locking is unlawful. This is the basis for PANZ's letter to the Waitaki District Council of 30 October 2000. Will they do the right thing and have the obstruction removed? Their past record says no, but we live in hope.
Otago Daily Times, 18 November 2000
A gate across a road through Birchwood Station has been locked, cutting access to the upper reaches of the Ahuriri River.
Public Access New Zealand has laid a complaint with the Waitaki District Council about access being prevented by a gate and padlock on what, it perceives, is a public road.
Birchwood Station owner Ron Williamson said yesterday it was not a public road.
"The country [ public] road ends at the cattle yards, where the gate and padlock is," he said.
Mr Williamson had a copy of the letter from Public Access New Zealand , but did not want to comment any further until he had discussed it with the council.
The shingle road comes off State Highway 8 at Longslip Creek, just north of the start of the Lindis Pass. It serves Ben Avon and Birchwood Stations, and provides access for anglers and trampers.
The council's development group manager, Mark Yaxley, confirmed to the Otago Daily Times yesterday that it was handling a complaint about access through Birchwood.
He said he was researching and investigating the issue before approaching Mr Williamson.
There was some dispute over where the public road was, where it ended and whether tracks follow the legal road.
Mr Yaxley said there was also a question over whether the road had ever been legally made a public road, even though it had been "drawn on paper".
"We are looking into whether there has been a breach of public rights of access on a public road. Once all the facts are clear, we will deal with it in an appropriate manner," Mr Yaxley said.
On 15 November PANZ inspected the road to find the lock still in place at the cattle yards, plus two new obstructions 1 km further up valley.
A new gate has been installed across the road exactly where the formation deviates from the surveyed legal alignment. In PANZ's view the gate itself is on pastoral leasehold and it is the lawful entitlement of the runholder to erect and even lock such. However the fencing either side completely obstructs the legal road alignments as the road forks just before this gate. These alignments are capable of being traversed either by foot or vehicle. One fork veers towards the Ahuriri River. The other heads uphill to Firewood Bush which is part of the much larger former state forest now administered by DOC. These obstructions are very new, with the tractor/post driver still on-site on the day of inspection. It appears this structure was Mr Williamson's response to PANZ's letter of 30 October. The position of this new gate indicates that Mr Williamson knows exactly where the public road is, therefore his reported statement about it ending at the cattle yards deserves to be viewed with skepticism.
PANZ is laying additional complaints with the District Council about these new obstructions.
PANZ actions have secured public access up the valley. Go to birchwood access for current access arangements