Partnerships

Yesterday dad and I travelled to Hamilton to verbally support the submission we had made regarding the Department Of Conservation’s (DOC) Conservation Management Strategy (CMS). Under the draft CMS released for consultation, private accommodation (approved or otherwise) is slated for removal and this includes the pre-existing duck huts in areas including the Kopuatai wetland where we hunt.

“Hut 5” (The hut) is a haven offering warmth and shelter, and during the hunting season, the hut is the centre of our world and the focal point of our activities. My direct family has a 4 generation entanglement with the area, the hut and the previous hut which was razed by fire in 1976. If and when my daughter finally decides that she is ready to hunt ducks, a 5th generation will in time become a guardian of the resource. The area itself has in my lifetime been developed from round holes in raupo swamp, inter-connected by small narrow ditches, to the prime habitat that now exists. The Hut 5 group, focused by the drive and foresight of my father and his father before him, has invested a huge amount of time, sweat and money to develop the area, and naturally we are both proud of what we’ve achieved; but at the same time we are humbled by the positive comments and feedback of people whom we’ve taken to the area.

I can only imagine that other duck hunting parties with huts have a similar depth of feeling and connectivity; especially those with multi-generational links such as the Haywards and the Kipas who have huts near ours.

I’d like to think that in view of the collective efforts of the occupiers of the approved huts that provision would be made by DOC for a continuation of renewable leases (of the land that the structures occupy). I hope that the points that we attempted to make will help promote the on-going working relationship between DOC and The Upper Piako Wetland Management Association. I hope that in my and my daughter’s lifetime that we don’t see the removal of historic structures that impede no one’s experience of the resource.

I hope that the partnership that we enjoy with DOC can continue. Sure, I’ve been tetchy, and at times critical of DOC – but that’s what happens in partnerships. We want to continue to invest in our time and effort and importantly in $ that DOC simple cannot afford. In return we’d like our concession to continue. Fingers crossed.