Bikers need safe place to ride and protect dunes

A Tokerau Beach man who believes bike riders and four-wheel drivers need somewhere they can go on the Karikari Peninsula without doing environmental damage or upsetting people says the situation is getting out of hand.

Brett Irwin, who argued at a public meeting at Whatuwhiwhi earlier this month that a specific area needed to be identified, said his 17-year-old son had ridden into a man trap on a long-established track in the dunes late last week. The teenager and his brother had subsequently found five more.

"This is getting nasty," Mr Irwin said.

The traps were in the form of holes dug into the sand, covered with flax sticks, gorse and sand to conceal them. One had been dug just over a rise: "Hit that and it's end over end, broken neck, end of story," he said.

Last year someone had laid out boards with nails in them.

"They weren't happy until a woman and her dog walked on one of them," he added.

Mr Irwin had lived behind Tokerau Beach for more than 20 years, and in that time the dune vegetation had increased to an extraordinary degree, while the track that was now concerning some people had been there for 100 years.

"It's very quiet there now compared with years ago," he said.

"There wouldn't have been more than half a dozen four-wheel-drives on the track this year."

Mr Irwin had told the police about the man traps, and had been told it was DOC land and DOC's problem.

He had not had a response from DOC.

Meanwhile Te Hiku Community Board has welcomed the forming of a working group that will investigate options to protect the Tokerau Beach dunes.

The group, set up after the Whatuwhiwhi meeting, convened and chaired by local resident and board chairman Lawrie Atkinson, includes representatives of the Department of Conservation, the Northland Regional Council, the Far North District Council, local residents, Haititai Marangai Marae, the police and local bike riders.

Mr Atkinson says he had called the meeting in response to an approach to the board by a local residents' association.

"Residents are concerned that irresponsible vehicle behaviour, especially by motorbike riders, is irreparably damaging the beach's iconic dunes and risking serious injury to other beach users," he said.

"There have been calls for the council to act. However, the dunes are on land owned by the Department of Conservation, which means that council by-laws, such as those covering vehicles on beaches or on council reserves, do not apply."

Council officers could assist DOC with a plan of action to deal with the problem however, and would be happy to make its expertise available to help reach and implement an agreed solution.

Mr Atkinson said those who attended the public meeting had agreed that young people needed somewhere to ride their bikes and become more skilled, but that place should be in a location that was not as environmentally sensitive as the dunes and was away from other beach users.

"I hope the working group can agree on a course of action that prevents further damage to the dunes and keeps everyone safe," he added.