RAL has a concession to operate in the park, granted by the Department of Conservation. FMC president Jan Finlayson said: “Mt Ruapehu is in Tongariro National Park. It is public land and the National Parks Act. is strongly public-spirited. “The mountain is a drawcard for recreationists: ski-touring, mountaineering and tramping. Congestion has expanded enormously and public transport hasn’t kept up with the need.” She said RAL advertised the sale of early bird passes which included preferential parking last spring. “Prior to the sales going online, FMC objected saying the sale went beyond what was allowed by the legislation. It was an effective privatisation of a public good, and it would run roughshod over the public spirit of the legislation.”
It says the quarry was mined between 1965 and 1987, and support had been given by adjoining landowners, the West Coast Regional Council, and iwi. The company’s application proposed minimising the environmental effects by rehabilitating the land, including reapplying topsoil and vegetation to quarried areas as soon as possible. It also promised the quarry would bring jobs to the West Coast and competition to the industry.
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A proposed quarry in South Westland is part of a Unesco World Heritage area. The quarry would be located on a ridge of indigenous podocarp forest, including rimu, kahikatea, matai, rata and totara.
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Tourists stream across the busy Tongariro Crossing on Easter Sunday, when queues for toilets stretched to the dozens. (File photo)
Is the view from the top of Mount Tongariro just as special if you’re sharing it, elbow to elbow, with thousands of other people? When Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton released his second report into tourism’s environmental effects this week, the “wildness and quiet” of conservation land was a key issue. “A sense of wildness and natural quiet are defining characteristics of New Zealand’s conservation lands and waters,” his report reads. “For many people, encountering these qualities is the main motivation for visiting a natural area.”