Beaches and bush – driver behaviour puts access at risk
Vehicles on beaches has become a worldwide issue as the availability of 4WD vehicles increases and the recreation of four-wheeling grows in popularity.
In some places it is a matter of sheer numbers of 4WD users wanting to drive on beaches, while in many others there are behavioural issues around how 4WDs and other ‘off-road’ type vehicles are used in beach environments.
Areas of sand anywhere can be an interesting and often fun to engage with in a suitable vehicle, although there are always risks. Here in New Zealand we have few areas left of shifting sands, with most having been ‘stabilised’ with pine trees, farmland or housing. The pine plantations completely alter the land when planted on sand, as their uptake of any underground water can severely affect the available fresh water. That can be easily seen along the upper North Island’s west coast where inland dune lakes have often vanished, along with shellfish like the Toheroa, which were always found in areas on beaches where fresh water flowed through the beach sands.
The desire to own a beach house with a view of the ocean has made that coastal land popular, with the subsequent loss of what were once ‘barrier dunes’ that flowed away from the beach and provided a balancing of sand supply to the beach area. Onshore storms push waves in to erode the shore and offshore wind blows the dry sand back to the beach. That cycle depends on the ability of the beach sand to dry enough to be blown back into the dune area and so create a ‘back and forward’ process of sand flow.
Around twenty years ago there was a somewhat controversial coastal scientist who wanted to test his theory that vehicles on a beach and frontal dunes would stir the sand, encouraging it to dry quickly and allow that sand to blow further into the dunes. His theory was not supported by those who wanted dunes planted to prevent the sand shifting around.
Taking that natural replenishment cycle away, means that there is a continuous eroding of available sand with resulting demands for seawalls to protect land and structures that exist on trapped sand.
Driving behaviours seem to be an equally difficult matter to resolve. The apparent ‘freedom’ that a long wide beach offers, seems to encourage drivers to take more risks and to take the view that ‘nobody’s watching’ so let’s drive up into the dunes, despite signs that state that they are ‘out of bounds’. It has been hoped that peer pressure might promote better behaviour, but it seems that the ‘bad’ outnumber the ‘good’ in many areas. Actual policing might be the only way to shift the balance.
I am of course assuming that there will public access to our coast in our future. It looks like a previous National government exercise to redress some of the Māori claims for the ‘management’ of coast where it could be demonstrated that there had been exclusive and continuous use of a section of coast by a specific tribe, has been hijacked.
That government assumed that the exclusive and continuous use category would restrict claims to a very small number. It was established that there were to be two methods of making a claim, through the Court, or by negotiation with government. Where Crown forest land is returned to Māori ownership, the Act enables the owners to request the responsible Ministers (the Minister of Finance and the Minister for State Owned Enterprises) to review any public access easement associated with the land.
The balance again has been weighted; applicants were to be taxpayer funded – up to $458,000 a claim – while those opposing the claims have had to fund themselves, which has meant there has been virtually no opposition to the heap of claims.
Only a day after I drafted this column in late July, there was a move in accordance with the New Zealand First coalition agreement. The Government announced its intent to pass legislation to “overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title (CMT)”.
Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith has said: “All New Zealanders have an interest in the coastal waters of our country… the Government has agreed to propose legislation which will ensure these tests for applications directly with the Crown or through the Courts are upheld as originally intended.”
If that is not done, then it seems Māori would become the legal owners of the coastline and Territorial Sea of New Zealand encompassing some 10 million hectares of rich natural resources, including minerals, to the exclusion of other New Zealanders.