The Goat Pass track : A study of park management within a limited area of the Arthur's Pass National Park, and the conflict between the 'preservation' and 'public access' objectives of the National Parks Act 1952 : [dissertation] submitted as part fulfilment for the Diploma in Natural Resources Course, Lincoln College

Abstract

My reason for studying the management of the Goat Pass track and the Mingha-Deception valley system, is partly because of the impact the track's condition had on me, when on a trip through the area in early 1978, as compared with what I remembered of the area some nine years previously.

Also I feel that the problems being experienced in this area are fairly common to nearly all the popular tracks in New Zealand ; problems which will continue to crop up in many more areas if we as New Zealand land managers, continue with a policy of 'opening up' more and more back country tracks and routes through walkways and other developments, without giving sufficient attention to the capabilities of the land to handle this flow of people, nor giving attention to the capabilities of the people to handle the characteristics of the mountain environment.

Because of the time restriction on the study (the Lincoln College requirement is for a study to take one month's full time work - this was expanded to two and one half rnonths), parts of this report are not as complete as could be desired. Also, a restricted database has not aided parts of the 'user analysis' in section 8 . However these possible shortcomings only serve to illustrate what can be done, with what data, and with the time available, and also serve to illustrate the general lack of knowledge both about physical aspects of the Park and about the Park users.

It should be emphasized that the time limit has produced essentially a 'point in time ' assessment, not an assessment of the dynamic nature of the changes occurring.