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Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to the first national outdoor recreation summit organised by the Department of Conservation.

Thank you for giving up your weekend to come along. I hope you find the speeches and discussions ahead informative and provocative.

The idea for this event has grown out of conversations I have with many of you over the past four years about your anxieties and ambitions for outdoor recreation in New Zealand.

DOC and I have been thinking about bringing those discussions together in an effort to overcome the fragmentation the outdoor recreation sector struggles with.

We've picked now to do that. We've picked now because next year all working New Zealanders will be legally guaranteed a fourth week of annual leave. For many this will mean more recreation time than ever before, and for you and the organisations you represent, this offers a significant opportunity.

This summit is about grasping that opportunity with both hands. It is about forging a collective vision around the challenges of the next twenty years, and how to respond to them. And it is also about underscoring and fortifying the importance of outdoor recreation to our national identity.

New Zealand began as a frontier nation, and the skills forged in the early days of exploring and shaping this country are kept alive in many of the recreation activities you are involved in.

The chance to pick up a pack and retreat to the quiet of the wilderness, or take the kids on a summer camping holiday, or teach a child to shoot a deer responsibly, are opportunities generations of New Zealander's have valued, and most continue to do so.

Even though we are becoming an increasingly urbanised society, these opportunities remain an essential part of how we see ourselves, and how we promote our Kiwi lifestyle to world. The etiquette of the outdoors is inextricably linked to the social values the majority of New Zealanders share, and it underpins the comparatively high level of environmental awareness found here. It is part of our national identity.

It has always been my view that conservation and recreation are intimately entwined. People develop a love of nature, and an appreciation for its complexity and fragility by experiencing it. The more time someone spends walking in native bush or biking in high country landscapes, the more likely they are to advocate for the preservation of those places.

So the trends that are occurring in outdoor recreation are critically important to the future of conservation. The public expenditure necessary to preserve much of our biodiversity in the future will only be achieved by maintaining links between urban populations and the outdoors through recreation.

That is why DOC and I are becoming more and more interested in the long-term health of outdoor recreation, and why the Labour-led government is exploring what more we can do to support and celebrate it as part of our work to promote national identity, and the wellbeing of Kiwi families.

But more on that later. First, I'd like to outline a few thoughts on just what state outdoor recreation is in, and what kinds of issues we will see arise over the next twenty years.

I know that among you there is a general anxiety, which I share, about broad social trends. It would appear that we are becoming an increasingly urbanised, sedentary and time-starved society. These trends are manifesting themselves most graphically in our young people, and in the obesity epidemic sweeping the nation.

Logically, these social changes must be having an impact on the extent of outdoor recreation undertaken by New Zealanders, in the same way as they affecting participation in sport more generally. But exactly how hard hit outdoor recreation has been is very difficult to pin down because sadly there is a shortage of good, reliable research.

We are trying to fill this gap. DOC is studying the constraints on outdoor recreation participation at the moment. A paper derived from this research will be published later in the year.

There are a few interesting facts that have emerged from the literature review for this research. About 70 to 80 per cent of New Zealanders report visiting a national park at least every two years, and about 40 per cent have visited one in the past 6 months. Somewhere between 12 and 16 per cent have no interest in ever visiting one.

Men appear more likely to participate in active outdoor recreation than women. There may be some ethnic variation in participation rates in outdoor recreation as well, although it is hard to tell because different cultures and socio-economic groups tend to have different recreation preferences.

About a third of New Zealanders are regular campers. Up to 40 per cent go on day walks, and up to 36 per cent go fishing.

Intriguingly though, the proportion of New Zealanders regularly tramping and overnighting in the back country appears to have dropped since the 1970s and 80s, despite population growth, better health in old age and tourism increasing the overall number of people on tracks. The studies we have suggest this drop may be in the region of 30 percent.

The same studies indicate there has been an even more dramatic fall in the proportion of people regularly going hunting. This fall could be in the region of 50 per cent, but it is likely to vary widely from region to region. If accurate, the fall is a cause for concern given the significant rise in deer numbers in some parts of the country, notably Fiordland.

In contrast to these declining trends, the proportion of New Zealanders fishing and the proportion day walking appear to have increased over the past twenty or thirty years. Most importantly, there has been a explosion in the popularity of new recreation activities that were barely a blip on the radar in the 1970s, such as mountain biking, kayaking, rafting, tubing, horse-trekking and so on.

Mass participation in outdoor recreation events, such as mountain biking and multi-sport, has also grown strongly in the past decade. At least 150 events engaging more than 50,000 participants are now held each year.

There has been a significant increase in the number of people walking our Great Walks, comprising both New Zealanders and overseas visitors. This suggests where New Zealanders are doing multi-day tramps they are choosing tracks which offer more comfort and infrastructure.

So what can we make of such a confused picture?

Again, each of you will have your own views on this, but I think we can safely say that overall outdoor recreation remains popular in New Zealand.

People are still visiting the outdoors a lot, but they seem to be visiting more accessible areas for less time, and to do different, sometimes more passive activities than they might once have done.

There has always been more use of the front-country than the backcountry, but this bias is becoming more pronounced.

Society is increasingly seeking instant immersion in a wilderness-type experience – get there quickly, experience it and leave quickly. As a result, there is rising demand for vehicle access (often 4WD) in to back country areas, and air access into national parks.

There is evidence that those types of traditional outdoor recreation that require longer time commitments are falling in popularity, and people are substituting them for new, more thrill-orientated activities. People are also becoming involved in outdoor activities through different social routes than they might once have done. For instance, alpine climbers no longer start off in tramping clubs; many get involved through sport climbing.

From where I sit, these shifts in recreation present some real challenges in the future.

If we are to continue to entice people into the outdoors and sustain support for the protection of natural areas, we must be responsive to new types of outdoor recreation. We must be flexible enough to adapt because the diversification in outdoor activity we have seen in the past twenty years is only going to grow in the next twenty.

At the same time, there is a very strong argument for trying to promote and retain the older more traditional types of outdoor activities, such as multi-day backcountry tramping. If too many people start to lose interest in these sports, there is a risk of a decline in the more sophisticated outdoor skills and etiquette that can only be acquired by extended periods in the backcountry. A loss of skills is likely to present further barriers to use of the backcountry by future generations unless addressed.

How then do we cater to both the old and the new? And how do we cater for a rising number of outdoor activities while maintaining the integrity of some very sensitive environments?

Obviously, there are places where there is a neat separation between one type of activity and another. Generally speaking, you can't paddle a kayak at a rock-climbing site, but that is not true of all sports.

Unfortunately, there are a growing number of collision points between activities, and these have spurred calls for zoning of different types of recreation areas in the outdoors. We already have wilderness areas, and recreational hunting areas, and I suspect we will see the zoning debate intensify further in future. This is particularly so when you stir in rising tourism, and rising demand for instant immersion in the outdoors. One person's transport is another person's loss of a quiet, pristine environment.

The debate over mountain biking and its impact on walkers is indicative of what we can increasingly expect

Mountain biking is a booming sport, but as you all know it is unpopular with many walkers who feel unsafe when bikers come hurtling past.

DOC has sought to accommodate the demand for mountain biking by specifically creating new tracks for them, such as the one opened recently in the Whirinaki Forest Park. This has eased the conflict with walkers somewhat, but there still remains the vexed issue of whether mountain bikes should be allowed in national parks.

Excluding such a popular activity from national parks troubles me, especially if mountain biking use can be managed in such a way that it is safe for the environment and other users. I've said as much to the Conservation Authority, and like many others I await its decisions with interest. I suspect this won't be the last difficult recreation issue the Authority has to deal with over the coming years.

In addition to balancing the competing demands of different recreation activities and the environment in future, we also face some difficult questions about what to do to preserve the front country in New Zealand.

As I indicated earlier, there appears to be a growing tendency among New Zealanders to visit the front country in preference to the backcountry.

The trouble is DOC administers much less front country than it does back country, and the unprotected front country close to urban centres, near the coast and around waterways, is under growing development pressure. The Waitakere Ranges in my local area is one example.

In the future the front country is likely to be the doorway through which many New Zealanders experience the outdoors, even more than it is now. Road ends like Catchpool, Holdsworth and Otaki Forks near Wellington are crucial outdoor access points for many people.

Families with young children go there, and sometimes overnight because they are relatively close to home and feel safe. In doing so, these parents plant the seeds of outdoor recreation in their children. They begin to teach them basic outdoor skills, and in time these families, or their children, may move further back into the wilderness.

A camping ground, and the iconic Kiwi summer camping holiday, provides similar opportunities. It is an outdoor activity that breeds certain skills, and leads on to other outdoor activities.

Earlier this year I announced a review of the availability of family-friendly camping areas following public anxiety about the number of camp grounds closing. It appears that anxiety was well founded.

The review, which I am publishing today, has found that although the number of camping areas nationally has shrunk by 6 per cent in the past ten years, there has been a far larger and more rapid decline in the commercial camping capacity in the upper North Island, where the vast majority of New Zealanders actually go camping.

A whopping one third of the commercial camping capacity in the Coromandel has been lost in the past decade, most of it since 2001. Notable reductions have also occurred in Auckland, East Coast/Hawkes Bay, Rotorua/Central North Island, and Waikato/Bay of Plenty regions, despite no apparent drop in demand.

The situation appears likely to worsen in future thanks to rising land prices, and the attractiveness of alternative development.

Importantly, the review has also found that the vast majority of New Zealanders – 91 per cent – consider access to places to go camping either "extremely important" or "important", and I suspect we would find similar levels of support for other types of outdoor recreation.

What can we do about the shrinking number of camping areas?

Well, the review proposes the following options for further discussion:

· Extending the network of camping areas on public land, and letting more contracts to private providers to run campgrounds on public land;
· Establishing a fund to purchase selected camping grounds for public ownership;
· Encouraging the expansion of existing camping areas on to adjacent land over peak periods;
· Encouraging camping on unused sports fields, open space reserves, and rural school grounds, where there is clear demand to do so over the peak season;
· Seeking a review of the Camping Ground Regulations to enable other organisations to provide basic camping experiences similar to those provided by DOC;
· Providing better information to the public about available camping opportunities.

My colleagues and I will be carefully considering these options over the next few months and consulting on them further with the commercial camping sector. But as a starting point let me say that I am very attracted to more effectively using the public land we already have before buying more of it.

The review has identified a provisional list of 30 new areas where camping could be located on conservation land in the four regions where there has been the most significant loss of campgrounds. There may well be a lot more areas on public land if councils went through a similar exercise looking at the land they manage.

I have asked DOC to do some more detailed analysis of the areas it has proposed.

This review of camping is one example of how the government can help underpin outdoor recreation, and it complements the other work we have already begun.

In 2002 we announced a $349m 10-year package to revamp and reorganise recreation facilities on DOC land to meet current and future demand. This was the largest single commitment any government had ever made to New Zealand's outdoor recreation infrastructure. A great many of you will have been involved in the local planning for how this money is spent, and what huts and tracks in your area are built, upgraded or removed.

Since 2004, the government has also been investing heavily in the tenure review process in the South Island High Country, and assembling a network of new conservation parks that enshrine public access to an amazing array of outdoor recreation opportunities, often those that are difficult to integrate in other existing conservation areas. For instance, mountain biking fits well in the high country on old station tracks.

Those parks that have already opened are already proving a success. Up to 10,000 people are believed to have visited the Ahuriri Conservation Park in North Otago in its first year. Over 60 per cent of visitors are thought to have been first-time users of the area.

The permanent protection of the spectacular Molesworth Station in Marlborough has also resulted in a rise in recreational use, and this is expected to increase further as DOC invests $2.7m over five years in the park.

The government is continuing to work on the vexed issue of walking access to the outdoors across private land. Public consultation is underway around the country by a specially formed panel, and this panel will report back early next year.

We’ve achieved a lot in the last five years, but as the camping review demonstrates the government is not drawing a line under our work to support outdoor recreation, quite the opposite.

We are very interested in hearing new ideas from you on ways in which we can help in the future, and DOC has worked hard to ensure this summit acts as a forum for those ideas.

Over the next two days, I'd urge you to be innovative in your thinking, robust in your debate, and try to set aside some of the day-to-day differences among you, and with DOC.

This summit will achieve nothing if its only outcome is 200 different viewpoints, and 200 different goals. That will simply give politicians an excuse to ignore you. I want to know whether this gathering can reach some common ground and form a collective vision, while fully respecting the significant differences that may emerge.

I want some practical outcomes that enhance recreational opportunities to result from this weekend work. If there was ever a time to look beyond points of conflict then it is now. Let's lift our horizons and look to the next twenty years.

Thank you.

 

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