Whangārei walkway opens up for public access, but recreational users want more

Whangārei Tramping Club chairman John Ward, Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa field officer Shaughan Anderson and club members cheer the opening of the Waikaraka Walkway. Photo / Denise Piper

Keen trampers and mountain bikers hope the reopening of a walkway in Whangārei will encourage more recreational access to publicly owned forestry and bush at Mt Tiger.

The Waikaraka Walkway, between Onerahi’s Cartwright Rd and Mount Tiger Rd, is being formally opened for public access and will have kauri dieback wash stations installed this year.

The track offers a 90-minute walk through established native bush and pine forest, including views over Whangārei Harbour.

Whangārei Tramping Club chairman John Ward said the walkway was quite popular in the 1980s when most of the land was owned by Northland Harbour Board. But when the harbour board was dissolved in 1992 and the land handed to Northland Regional Council, the track was closed for commercial forestry operations.

Ward said it was disappointing the forest was locked away from the public, including a locked gate at Cartwright Rd.

Though most of the Waikaraka Walkway is on an unformed legal road, often known as a paper road, some of the formed track does not align with the legal road and falls on to private forestry.

But the recent sale of the private pine forest to an overseas-funded company, Zentral Estate, required permission through the Overseas Investment Office, which made public access a condition of the sale.

Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa, the Outdoor Access Commission, was instrumental in ensuring access, said regional field adviser Shaughan Anderson, who particularly credited the work of his predecessor, John Gardiner.

With Whangārei rapidly expanding, demand for recreational space was growing and this walkway started right on the edge of urban development, he said.

Ward said while the Waikaraka Walkway reopening was fantastic news, it highlighted the lack of access through the parts of Mt Tiger/Tāika Forest publicly owned by Northland Regional Council.

“It is indeed absurd that the community now has access to the foreign-owned part of the forest, but attempts are made to exclude them from the part of the forest they own,” he said. “There’s a lot more of this [forest] that could be used for recreation.”

Many commercial pine forests allowed managed public access for trampers, walkers and mountain bikers, with the view it could help protect the forest from illegal use by encouraging more “eyes and ears”, Ward said.

Commercial operators like Rayonier Matariki Forests allowed public access to those who did an online safety induction and then applied online for a permit, he said.

Whangārei Mountain Bike Club president Ben Haselden agreed the council should allow safe, managed recreational access, the way numerous other forest owners had done.

“We tried for years to get access ... It’s quite an archaic view of Northland Regional Council.”

Anderson said public access was one of the standards required for forests to meet Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) accreditation, with Herenga ā Nuku providing advice on public access to FSC.

But Northland Regional Council strategic projects and facilities manager Phil Heatley said while some New Zealand forest owners allowed public access, most didn’t.

Whangārei Tramping Club members John van Pomeren (left), Roddy Blank, John Ward, Vicky Orr, Herenga ā Nuku field officer Shaughan Anderson, Karen Blank, Mary Lewis, Bruce Darby and Margie Hurly say opening the locked gate will help stop the likes of graffiti. Photo / Denise Piper

“Mt Tiger/Tāika Forest is a working forest and there are health and safety risks with harvesting, spraying and the risk of fire, particularly this time of year.

“There has been past illegal entry by motorbikes which present an increased fire danger risk, particularly in summer, as well as illegal pig hunting, with firearms placing workers and walkers at risk.”

The council is also concerned about protecting native flora, including keeping kauri dieback out and protecting native fauna from dogs, with kiwi, bats and native lizards inhabiting the bush.

Heatley said the council was not convinced antisocial behaviour would be deterred by improved public access.

Northland Regional Council was working with Whangārei District Council to allow safe access on the paper roads, including the use of kauri dieback wash stations and clear marking of the track, he said.

This should be resolved this year, when the locked Cartwright Rd gate would be removed, Heatley said. Until then, there was clear walking access around the gate, he said.

Anderson said unformed legal roads could not be locked off and locked gates across paper roads were a common site of conflict between Northland property owners and walkers.

But Heatley said any Northland Regional Council gates on paper roads were to prevent motorcycles, not walkers.

A Whangārei District Council spokesperson said it had not yet been approached by the regional council to resolve walking access at Waikaraka.

Denise Piper is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate focusing on health and business. She has more than 20 years in journalism and is passionate about covering stories that make a difference.