Waitatari/Harts Creek Bird Hide: Exploring visitor book data (2017-2019)

Abstract

The sustainability of natural features often depends on how humans manage their use and this requires knowledge of where and when people most engage with a natural feature. Support for management often depends on the values attached to the feature. The number of visits to a feature, or a discrete site that is part of the feature can be indicative of the potential for the impact of visitors, the value of that feature, or as a wellbeing measure. Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere is a large natural feature with many uncontrolled public access points, which makes monitoring recreational use problematic. Prior research which investigated a recreation monitoring framework for Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere identified data collected through visitor book entries in the Waitatari/Harts Creek Bird Hide is a valid way of monitoring recreational use at a key location on the lake. The Waitatari/Harts Creek Bird hide is located on the west side of Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere, approximately 54 km south of Christchurch in the Selwyn District. It is reached by a short walk over private land and a Wildlife Management Reserve, managed by the Department of Conservation. Between January 2017 to December 2019 a visitors book was located in this hide and visitors were invited to enter the date of their visit, where they have travelled from, and short comments about their experience. This report analyses entries from the Waitatari/Harts Creek Bird Hide Visitor Book collected from 2017 to 2019. The data was investigated for a number of reasons. Firstly, to determine if it could be used as a reliable monitoring measure which could inform potential indicators for recreational use of the lake. Secondly the data was analysed to detect any trends in numbers of visitors by month, origin of visitors and possible themes for qualitative comments. Field observations estimate that only a third of visitors sign the book. The reliability of the data generated by visitor entries can therefore be regarded as a general estimate only, and is not adequate as a reliable “enough” measure over a long period of time. A more accurate measurement of the number of pedestrians using the track and/or the bird hide is required to count the actual total number of visitors over time and is strongly recommended. This could be achieved by installing a standard pedestrian counter on an appropriate part of the track. Collecting reliable information about the numbers of visitors to the hide has the potential to be used as a measure for a range of indicators which are broadly relevant to recreational monitoring. Further research is also required to determine which indicators the visitor data is most appropriate for, along with exploring the notion of the experience of well-being associated with walking the track and visiting the hide. Once confirmed, upgraded pedestrian count monitoring is relatively simple and has the potential to have high value. A pedestrian count could be used to inform indicators for a wide range of plans and strategies developed by a range of stakeholders including Rūnanga, Department of Conservation, Te Waihora Co-Governance Group, Selwyn District Council, Lincoln University and Environment Canterbury. The Waitatari/Harts Creek visitor book recorded between 900 and 1500 visitors a year. Despite the limitations regarding reliabilty of data collected through the book, January across all years is likely to be the busiest time of the year at the bird hide which correlates with school holidays in New Zealand and Australia, plus peak domestic and international tourism. Easter and December have higher levels of visitors, which also coincides with New Zealand school holidays. Of the visitors who indicated where they originated from, the majority are from New Zealand/Aotearoa, with less than 10% identifying their origin as being global. Whilst tourists from the UK and Australia comprise the majority of international visitors, visitors from 24 other countries were recorded. A significant majority of visitors from New Zealand across all three years are from Canterbury and of those, most are from the Selwyn district (72% overall), or Christchurch (24%). High numbers of people from Selwyn are from communities located relatively close to the lake. The most common origin of visitors from Selwyn are Leeston at 43%, Rolleston 15%, and Southbridge 13% overall. Finally, based on a review of comments entered into the book, it is recommended that quality interpretation material which provides good information about the lake is installed in the hide.