Hanmer Forest Park user survey

Abstract

The Hanmer Forest was one of the first Government owned exotic forests, being established around the turn of the century. It is situated 135 km north of Christchurch. The park consists of exotic plantations and native vegetation, from beech remnants in the lower slopes of the Hanmer Range to sub-alpine vegetation along the tops. Hanmer Forest Park was gazetted in 1978. Thus the area is managed for a range of functions, including soil and water conservatlon, recreation and timber production. The recreational side of the forest is still being developed and upgraded. The recent introduction of Recreation Operations Planning System (ROPS) is expected to help with co-ordination of recreational facility developments and maintenance in order to provide an improved recreational experience. From the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS) we see that recreation planning has three key elements: activities, settings and experiences. In relation to these, there exists recreation desires and the opportunities that are provided by managers. These are linked through recreation planning. A user survey gives some objective information of demand and resource capability as visitors see it. It can also be used to get user input into management. It is important for the management of the park to have a knowledge of the types of user of the park, and also their reaction to facilities, services and changes that are made in the park. Surveys provide objective information on the desires of users which had previously been subjectively assessed by managers. Hence it is hoped that the information contained in this report can be assimilated into the recreational planning process to better provide the desired experiences.