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Trail News and Maintenance
Good weather and the lack of adverse conditions over the last month have meant that Trail usage has continued to build. The committee is looking at ways of improving the Trail surface in some areas to enhance the utilisation & experience of users and ease ongoing maintenance requirements. Website The website and Facebook page update is ongoing. Committee member profile updates are underway. Predator Control The following pests were eradicated over the reporting period: 2 x possum 5 x rats 4 x Good Nature Kills AT220 traps are working well. These kill both possums and rats. A graph showing seasonal pest kill rates will be added to our website. This indicates that February through to April is when the target pests are most active. Trail Usage Counter 2256 passes for the period 22nd August – 20th September. Funding Pub Charity funding has enabled a much needed upgrade to our sand dumper to be completed. Submissions to Local Body, National Authority and other donors / benefactors are being investigated. We would like to thank the organisers of the Tairua Trail & Tides Run / Walk event for their generous donation towards Stage 4 and look forward to this year’s event. See our Facebook page for more details. Firewood sales and public donations are ongoing. Trail Stage 3 Progress Progress along the Marginal Strip adjacent to the Tairua River is currently halted at the boundary between TCDC and DoC administered land. We are investigating the possibility of partnering with Iwi, Walking Access NZ, WRC and DoC to return this section of the River Esplanade to an area where the public can see and be involved in a wetland restoration as part of the Trail construction. We believe this is aligned with the bottom line principles of both Walking Access NZ and DoC with regard to the health of our wetlands and restoring public access to publicly owned areas. We believe that local property owners from Pauanui, Hikuai and Tairua could take a role in this partnership. Trail Stage 4 The committee has now walked a possible route from the Tairua School to the Tairua Cemetery. We believe a walk / cycle way through this area would provide Tairua with a much needed safe access way to the Cemetery as well as an impressive start / finish point to the Trail to Hikuai. A basic map showing how this could be achieved will be developed for discussion and comment by all stakeholders and the public in general. Research into viable construction methods is underway. We await comment on the TCDC produced a map showing a possible alignment of Stage 4 of the Trail between Hikuai and Tairua circulated to stakeholders. Health & Safety Signage and Trail improvements are ongoing to ensure a superior experience by all Trail users. Trail News and Maintenance:
Once again flooding has closed the Hikuai Settlement Road twice since our last meeting and the Trail has come through with little damage. Minor scouring on some inclined sections, washouts and a couple of minor slips have been repaired. Potentially unsafe trees have been identified and will be removed as resources become available. Website: The website and Facebook page update is ongoing. Predator Control: The following pests were eradicated over the reporting period: 4 x possum 2 x rats 9 x Good Nature Kills AT220 traps are working well. These kill both possums and rats. Trail Usage Counter 1510 passes for the period 19th July to 21st August. Funding: Pub Charity has provided funds to repair some of our machinery. Submissions to Local Body, National Authority and other donors / benefactors are ongoing. Firewood sales and public donations are ongoing. Trail Stage 3 Progress: Progress along the Marginal Strip adjacent to the Tairua River is currently halted at the boundary between TCDC and DoC administered land. Discussions with DoC, Iwi and TCDC to progress the trail further are ongoing. Further meetings with all stakeholders are expected. Trail Stage 4: TCDC produced a map showing a possible alignment of Stage 4 of the Trail between Hikuai and Tairua in August 2019. This has been circulated to DoC and Iwi for comment. Meanwhile we intend to investigate possible construction methods and funding for a combined Public Footpath / Trail from the Tairua School area to Red Bridge Road. Initially this would provide safe pedestrian and cycle traffic access away from the main road and would form part of the Trail as it progressed. We are planning to walk this part of Stage 4 in the near future. Health & Safety: An updated Health and Safety Plan has been produced and circulated to all HDT Committee members. Trail News and Maintenance
Flooding has closed the Hikuai Settlement Road twice since our last meeting. The Trail has come through pretty well and has been usable after each event once fallen trees, a couple of slips and debris have been cleared. Other damage seems to be confined to minor scouring on the inclined sections as before. The flooding hasn’t hindered the hardy trail riders from using it. Predator Control The following pests were eradicated over the reporting period: 3 x possum 10 x rats 1 x stoat 3 x Good Nature Kills Trail Usage Counter 2450 passes for the period Mid-May to Mid-June with 1400 passes over the first week of the school holidays. Funding The 2019 Tairua Trail and Tides Run and the 2020 Pauanui Half Marathon are current public fund raisers for the trail. Submissions to Local Body, National Authority and other donors / benefactors are underway. Firewood sales and public donations are ongoing. Stage 3 Progress A meeting with DoC to discuss Trail progress originally scheduled for July 16th was postponed due to flooding and has been rescheduled to take place on July 28th . Further meetings with all stakeholders are in the planning stages. Trail Stage 4 Some discussions regarding where and how the trail is to proceed from Hikuai to Tairua and beyond are underway. Contact with the Ngati Hei and the TCDC Community Board have been made. The Pinnacles Cycle Club is also in contact. Health & Safety: Additional “Hidden Driveway” signs have been installed on a driveway where the trail crosses behind the newly installed safety barrier west of the Duck Creek Bridge. Trail News and Maintenance
One small section of the Trail became temporarily flooded over Queens Birthday weekend due to a major storm. This soon dissipated with no damage to the trail. Minor damage was caused by run off on some of the inclined sections. Some reshaping of these sections is expected to mitigate this and improve other parts of the trail surface An “Adopt a Section of the Trail” programme is underway to involve Trail supporters in the upkeep of planting along the trail route. On Friday 12 June a huge turn-out of approximately 50 volunteers including students from the Hikuai School planted 1000 trees at strategic locations along the trail. These trees were donated by WRC . Website The website and Facebook pages are to be updated. Predator Control The following pests were eradicated over the reporting period: 1 x possum 7 x rats 1 x stoat 19 x Good Nature Kills Trail Usage Counter 2433 passes for the period Mid-May to Mid-June. Funding The 2019 Tairua Trail and Tides Run and the 2020 Pauanui Half Marathon are current public fund raisers for the trail. Submissions to Local Body, National Authority and other donors / benefactors are underway. Firewood sales and public donations are ongoing. Trail Stage 4 Some discussions regarding the where and how the trail is to proceed from Hikuai to Tairua and beyond are underway. Health & Safety A revised Health & Safety plan has been circulated and signed by all committee members. Additional “Hidden Driveway” signs are to be installed on a driveway where the trail crosses behind the newly installed safety barrier west of the Duck Creek Bridge. April 2020
Sadly this year’s progress on the trail has been non-existent. The Trail Committee has continued to meet monthly and have continued to maintain the trail to a very high standard. They have had an excellent tree planting programme under the guidance of Kim, Jeanette and Anne. Peter and Linda Millen have been very diligent with their pest eradication programme and we are seeing a vast increase of birdlife because of their efforts. The trust is most fortunate to have Bill Witt who keeps the finances in control. We are truly grateful for his work. Peter Millen and John Mackenzie have had very productive year selling firewood. I commend them and their team of willing workers. Storm Waters has joined the trail team as our track construction expert. He has been doing this job for the last six years and is a valuable addition to our committee. Terry Kingham from Tairua has offered to take on the role of fund raising. I believe he will do an excellent job. The presence of someone from Tairua is also very important. Once again I’m grateful for the many hours of pro bono work that is done by Tim Hart. Thank you so much for your wise council and support. Work to progress Stage 3 of the Trail is currently stalled by a DoC decision which does not allow the construction along the Marginal Strip as detailed in our Resource Consent. We feel they have been unduly influenced by Iwi and a small group of locals who form the Hikuai Liaison Group. This group has put their support behind the property owners at 403 & 345 Hikuai Settlement Road who opposes the consented trail route along the DoC administered public land between their properties and the river. Doc has stated that this Marginal Strip is pristine wetland and needs protection. The irony of this is that stock has grazed this land for many years. This practice continues unabated. DOC and Iwi have been frustrating to deal with and seem to be showing a lack of concern for the very thing they say they wish to protect. The trail committee feel that, with the eventual completion of the trail, we will be able to encourage the protection and restoration of the natural environment of this area as outlined in Docs own publication - “Magical Places – 40 Wetlands to visit in New Zealand” Recent Mediation arranged by TCDC between the affected parties has failed to find any agreement on an alternative route. We are still hopeful a way forward will be found. To try and remove some of the tension surrounding this stalemate I resigned as Chairman of the Trail Committee. I believed that new blood was needed. Gary Prince agreed to step up and was duly elected as the new Chairman. I’m really impressed with the way Gary has approached his new role. Chairman of the Hikuai District Trust Gary Fowler |
