Part Four of a CORANZ series on risk, competence, and accessBy Andi Cockroft, Chair, CORANZ At some point, responsibility stopped being personal and became institutional. Not announced, not debated, but gradually absorbed into process, policy, and paperwork. Where judgement once … Continue reading
special report A recently released paper commissioned by Gisborne environmental group Mana Taiao Tairāwhiti, says the economic contribution of the commercial forestry industry has been considerably exaggerated by the industry’s supporters. However reaction from the commercial forestry sector via the … Continue reading
Part Three of a CORANZ series on risk, competence, and accessBy Andi Cockroft, Chair, CORANZ When I was a child, risk arrived early and often, without ceremony. We rode in the back of a ute or on a car trailer. … Continue reading
Part Two of a CORANZ series on risk, competence, and accessBy Andi Cockroft, Chair, CORANZ If swimming was once taught because water was part of everyday life, something else has quietly taken its place. Where skills were learned, risk is … Continue reading
Part One of a CORANZ series on risk, competence, and accessBy Andi Cockroft, Chair, CORANZ Prompted by this Stuff article, I began thinking what has happened to New Zealand since my childhood. I learned to swim at school. From the … Continue reading
Do Supplements Really Help Outdoors? By Andi Cockroft, Chair, CORANZ When I first headed into the outdoors in the 1960s, the performance-enhancing options were modest. We had food. We had water. And if things dragged on longer than expected, perhaps … Continue reading
Guest Post by John Davey Councils across New Zealand are telling a familiar story. There is not enough money. Rates must rise. Tracks cannot be maintained. Toilets are closed. River access points are removed. Environmental enforcement is scaled back. Recreation … Continue reading
Are We Still Asking the Wrong Questions? By Andi Cockroft, Chair, CORANZ About twenty years ago, I found myself at Waiouru representing a group of volunteers – figuratively loppers and saws in hand – ready willing and able to cut … Continue reading
A recent Stuff story from Gore, here, where people experiencing homelessness were told to leave a motor camp, looks at first like a local social issue. But scratch the surface and a wider question emerges: what happens to outdoor access … Continue reading
More Questions We Still Aren’t Answering Guest Post by Steve Hodgson After every major storm, the same images appear: rivers choked with logs, beaches buried in debris, bridges damaged, tracks closed, and communities left to clean up the aftermath. The … Continue reading
by Emily Major May 2021 From “All-Creatures.org” Sentiment among the New Zealand mainstream environmentalist community is to get rid of this ‘pest’ by any means possible (e.g. “hit them, and hit them hard” or “the only good possum is a … Continue reading
What the Cape Brett Track Dispute Means for Outdoor Recreation Guest Post by John Davey This recent Stuff article [here] about the Cape Brett Track is easy to dismiss as a colourful local dispute. A private landowner, a diverted route, … Continue reading
by CORANZ researchers A science paper written in 2015 by Nicholas Holm and entitled “Consider the Possum: Foes, Anti-Animals, and Colonists in Paradise”, points to a deep hatred within New Zealand culture of the possum “The brushtail possum is not … Continue reading
Questions New Zealand Should Be Asking Guest post by Dave Rhodes When officials themselves warn Cabinet about the risks of reducing penalties for deepwater fishers, it raises an obvious question: who carries the risk if those warnings are brushed aside? … Continue reading
If Lake Wairarapa is a lesson in how water is managed, redirected and negotiated, then the Pinnacles are a reminder of what water does when left to its own devices - patiently, relentlessly, and over immense spans of time. Rising … Continue reading
Where Freshwater, Salt and Policy Collide Lake Wairarapa is not a place of dramatic cliffs or postcard drama. It is broad, low, and quiet - a lake you come to slowly. That, perhaps, is its strength. For generations it has … Continue reading
special report More than 11,000 clubs, nearly half of New Zealand’s incorporated societies, charities, unions and political organisations, face automatic dissolution after 5 April warns the website “Centrist”. “What was framed as a technical governance update is becoming a test … Continue reading
But, a Local Symptom of a National Water-Management Issue Guest Post by Dave Rhodes Heavy rainfall late last year dislodged vast amounts of lake weed in Lake Rotorua, leaving about 780 tonnes of invasive aquatic plants washed up along the … Continue reading
Recent warnings to swimmers and dog owners about contaminated rivers in Wairarapa have prompted understandable concern. But this is not a local anomaly. It is part of a nationwide pattern that affects outdoor recreation across New Zealand, from summer swimming … Continue reading
The Buller region sits on the northern West Coast of the South Island, shaped by sea, river, forest, and distance. It stretches from the exposed coast around Cape Foulwind, inland through the Buller Gorge, across to Reefton, and north again … Continue reading
