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Environment
Officials want to exclude a reservation from a Crown pastoral lease, which could trigger a court battle, David Williams reports.
When Lukas Travnicek He flew over Canterbury’s Mt White Station and had done his research.
The native of the Czech Republic, and a resident of New Zealand, knew the average rainfall of the Crown pastoral leasehold, which borders Arthur’s Pass National Park, and took into account its 40,000 hectares (about a quarter of the Stewart Island) in your development plans, in case you bought that.
“I saw it from the helicopter the first time and they didn’t want it to land because they said it would be disturbing to the manager and you’re not sure if you really want to buy it. But I did land the pilot. “
With the previous owners of the Turnbull family, Mt White had only four workers: the manager, his wife, one full-time and one part-time. He ran around 8500 sheep, 580 cows and almost 400 deer. With proper care and investment, it looked ripe for development.
Fast forward to today: two years after the ink dried Purchase of Travnicek of the lease, and while the backdrop remains a country paradise, the backing track is the hammering and high-pitched buzz of construction.
In the cluster of farm buildings, about 30 kilometers from the Mt White Bridge along a gravel road, new structures are emerging in the shadow of the property’s eponymous peak.
A gleaming new kitchen is complete; a five-bedroom shepherd’s room and accommodation for new shearers are on the way. Behind the shearers’ rooms, the beginnings of a vegetable garden have been planted and there are plans for an edible garden with a tunnel house, a cellar, and a berry cage.
The new stables will have independent accommodation. On the hill, two new houses will be built for senior staff with families.
The number of livestock has also increased. Travnicek estimates that there are now around 700 deer, 400 cows and 15,000 sheep. After two cabins are built in the field and a horseback riding operation is established for tourists, the roster of personnel should increase to about 20.
The first few years have been special, says Travnicek, who spends about a week between New Plymouth, where his wife, Somjai, a Thai-born New Zealand citizen, and their three daughters live, and Mt White.
“From the outside you can see that it is busy because of the building and all the infrastructure and the development of the fields and the new roads. And also from within, there is a totally new team. We are bringing in new people, trying to create a sense of community and cohesion. “
To increase the diversity of the farm, Travnicek’s company Southern Ranges Ltd is building a new honey packaging and processing plant. (On top of that, it’s where the builders live, in a Portacom hamlet.)
The bees will bring another source of income besides wool, meat and potentially tourists – an important cover for Travnicek, who says traditional farms are “no longer feasible” financially.
“There is huge potential in honey here. I think we are obliged to do it because that gives you a very good perspective for the future and in years not so good with wool or meat, you have something to highlight ”.
However, a threat looms over the farming season as the government moves to solve a thorny and century-old problem.
As you exit State Highway 73, the highway that runs through Arthur’s Pass to the West Coast, and crossing the Mt White Bridge, over the Waimakariri River, the Mt White Station begins at what is known as the Riversdale Flats.
About 1000 hectares of the plains were set aside as a reserve for the national park in 1901 but somehow – “wrongly,” a 2002 report to the government said – they have continued to be included in the pastoral lease. (Another 337 hectares are wholly owned land).
Controversially, the matter not resolved when Travnicek bought it.
(And Land Information New Zealand, the Crown land administrator, retrospectively approved work of the previous owners of the station to fence off part of the reserve land, clean the indigenous plants and put them in pasture).
Now Crown Lands Commissioner Craig Harris, who oversees pastoral leases, has written to Southern Ranges to say that the Riversdale Flats section of the station, known as “Reserve 3535,” will be excluded from the Mt White lease. when they turn 33 years old. the renovation occurs at the end of next year. The other 38,340 hectares are not affected.
Passage of the Reservations Amendment Act in 1996 prevents Riversdale from being included in the lease, Harris wrote. Technically, it was never Crown land.
The lessee could still access the reserve, but that would require a concession from the Minister of Conservation.
Harris says in an emailed statement: “The state of Riversdale Flats is not related to the transfer of the lease or any associated conditions of the Foreign Investment Act.”
The situation is a political hot potato.
The newly installed Land Information Minister, Damien O’Connor, confirms that he has been informed. “As there is an active consideration underway, I will not comment further at this time.”
Conservation lobby group Forest & Bird is pleased with the “long-awaited steps” to recognize the reserve status of the land and remove it from lease.
“Dryland river terraces like Riversdale Flats are woefully underprotected,” says Canterbury and West Coast Regional Manager Nicky Snoyink by email. “These important river terraces are the habitat of rare braided riverbirds such as banded dotterels and black-fronted terns, and are a vital addition to Arthur’s Pass National Park.”
Snoyink notes that cattle grazing is not allowed in national parks.
However, the director of operations for the Department of Conservation of the East South Island, Nic Toki, says that no decision has been made on the future management of Riversdale. His emailed statement did not respond to Newsroom’s question as to whether the DoC advocated removing the reservation from the Mt White lease.
The loss of Riversdale is a blow to Travnicek, who originally confirmed that he had received Harris’s letter. “It’s our place where we keep our stocks for the winter, that’s one thing. That’s why it’s really important. “
LINZ and DoC asked the Southern Ranges to prepare a proposal for Riversdale, which it did, with a cooperative attitude, he says. But the response, Harris’s letter, was “quite shocking.”
“I’m hiring lawyers,” Travnicek says disappointed, “because he is a great threat to the farm. If we don’t have the Riversdale, we probably can’t farm here. “
He says the government had a great opportunity to solve the problem when it bought the lease. “But they didn’t and they signed it. And after a relatively short time, now they come back and say, oh, actually, we’re going to take it from them. “
That, he says, is a violation of ethics. “There is probably a violation of the lease, but that is not up to me, it is up to the attorneys to examine it.”
(In our History 2018, former Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage agreed that Southern Ranges could receive compensation if Riversdale were removed from the contract.)
No court documents have been filed, says Travnicek, but his company is “preparing our ground.” “It is a very complex issue and we have to be prepared for it. I don’t know where this will lead, it’s too early, but I still hope this can be solved in a way that we avoid a [court] dispute.”
It’s difficult, Travnicek says, because of the fact that he has to work with government departments to develop Mt White. “It is very difficult for me to treat these people as partners for the future, because there is a loss of trust.”
His tongue clicks. “But we’ll see.”
Our interview with Travnicek occurs during a three-hour horseback ride on Mt White.
We hike around (and over) the matagouri shrubs, look at ravines with native trees, and stop for a quick drink in the streams, moving from farm buildings to terraces overlooking the Esk River, and over Lake Hill, with view of Lake Letitia.
There are mountains everywhere. To the south is the Torlesse Range, and to the east, the Puketeraki Range, which can be seen from Christchurch, home to Newsroom’s South Island headquarters.
But now you’re a million miles from him, huh? jokes Heather Harrington, Mt White staff member and horse guide, as we ride.
Travnicek says investment in Mt White to date has been more than expected, “but not significantly.” Isolation means transporting materials and people from other places.
The obstacles, in their many forms – the problems of the construction project, human resources or different government agencies – are things to be solved, he says.
“It’s a bit difficult because you always see this huge amount of work in front of you, all the challenges that lie ahead, but that doesn’t stop me from enjoying it deeply.”
During his last visit to Mt White, Travnicek took the truck of the farm manager, Richard Smith, and drove alone to the field. His whole family stayed at the station in the last school holidays. “They love to ride horses, so we always bring the horses at night, we stay in the cabin.”
This is how you create an attachment to a place, reflect.
“The longer I stay here, the more I discover the place, and the more you know about it, the more you fall in love with it. So this is very, very beautiful to me. “
Travnicek gets even more philosophical. In this unstable world, it makes sense to invest in land, in buildings, in tangible things. Things you can hold.
And then there is the human side. When he’s at Mt White, he gets in, helps plant protection belts, or helps with livestock. He’s there so often that he’s no longer just “the man with the money.”
“They are beginning to be fearless, you know? There is always respect in them, because they don’t know me, but once you are part of the team, it is the perfect way to build a community. “
Without sounding pathetic, Travnicek says he doesn’t feel like the owner of Mt White. Sure, he has a company and the company is building the houses at the station, so legally it is private property. (He is a trained attorney).
“But with that land, I think the concept of ownership is just ridiculous, because in a few years I’ll be gone and the trees will stay here.”
