Offroad-Express

hi there all,
some of you may know from the sunday ashley trip on the 2nd, that a council ranger turned up after hereing about the ashley 2nd trip posted on this web site, "he came down to meet us at begining of the trip, we were not caught in the wrong place and were not in trouble. he asked us to post this info on the site for other members and users of the river that may read this site.". he had a chat with us about access in the ashley river area. we were informed about nesting birds that lay eggs in shngle that look like shingle.

the birds laying the eggs are getting very rare now, and because they lay there eggs in braded river beds the council is getting a bit concerned about certian areas of the few rivers in canterbury they migrate to every year, as the numbers of birds depleat more each year. he gave me some reading on the subject and has also given me a few extra to had out.


sorry for poor scans. i can post you a copy if you want, i have 7 left and maybe someone has a better scanner. mine is a cheapie
here is a map of the areas they dont want us in
this is what i understood from him. he said the south side was of limits and in the river bed west from the rangiora road bridge we must only stick to the designated 4wd track till the okuku river, he did metion to me that staying on the 4wd tracks was a safer option but any where the was open shingle river bed you may find the birds nesting. i have only herd it from this ranger and he wasn't to sure on 4wd access up the okuku river because his main area was the waimak river region. i have posted a map of ashley un docted so if anyone has more understanding they can go to my photo album and copy and edit map pic.
http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/modules.php?set_albumName=album43&id=ashley_good&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php
cheers guys.

The info was good....we went & exactly where we were supposed too.

There was quite a to-do in the local papers about these wee birds a year or so back.

The main area of concern is the open river bed just upstream of the Rangiora road bridge as Hulux-Happy points out. Probably extends further upstream than his markings too. This is also the area that Taggets use to extract their shingle so they are banned during this time and go crazy stock piling it before breeding season. Unfortunately its also the area most people like swimming as its the easiest access from Rangiora!

Few silly things about it all tho. There was a big commotion about these ruthless crazy 4wdrivers driving a single line across the river bed and bumbling over nests and ruining the life of innocent eggs that were sitting there doing no harm.

The next comment was how resilient these bird were that when a bank-to-bank flood come through that was great because it cleared the lupins and the birds would always come back and rebuild and lay more eggs.

Really what the issue is when people walk around there and touch the nests, or if the parents are scared away for too long.

But regardless I say there is heaps of river bed to enjoy without disturbing these wee chirpers and its only for a section of the year. The other point I commend is that there is signage up at most close entries to let people know what times and areas the access is limited. You can't rely on the likes of these forums and printed fliers to be sufficient to let every one know. Let people know right when they enter!

LivingHere - Ecan Environmental Newsletter, August 2007

[quote]
Vulnerable birds need better protection

LOTS OF PEOPLE LOVE and enjoy Rangiora’s
Ashley River/Rakahuri. Trouble is, the river means
different things to different people. More importantly,
it is home to several endangered bird species which
aren’t that good at holding their own, let alone
protecting their eggs, from motorised vehicles, dogs,
stoats and humans.
As a result, Environment Canterbury has kicked off
a community process to establish a non-statutory
plan to manage 1700 hectares of the Ashley River/
Rakahuri, stretching from its confl uence with the
Okuku River to just north of the Waikuku estuary.
The river is well used for fi shing, bird-watching,
swimming, dog-walking, rubber-rafting, trail-biking
and four-wheel-driving, so there’s plenty of potential
for confl ict. From a fl ood protection angle, stopbanks
are easily damaged by four-wheel-drive vehicles and
trail riders – something people living near the river are
very aware of.
The plan aims to draw together the environmental
values along with the needs of recreationalists and
the need for fl ood control for the town of Rangiora.
The proposal is supported by landowners and
recreational and environmental groups.
Gavin Cooper, of the Christchurch Combined
4WD clubs, says club members are well versed on
the nesting habitats of the river’s birds but non-club
drivers are less well informed. “There are defi nitely
certain areas (of the riverbed) none of us should be in
during certain months of the year.â€

I did pm you hilux-happy and warn you about the nesting birds and where not to go. I also gave you an alternative access route to get into the Ashley track. Obvisiously it was not taken onboard. Everyone can now see that our site gets watched everyday by other 4wd groups, ECAN, councils, greenies and others that would like to see us disappear and find stuff to hang us out to dry with. Be very careful what you say, post and do on this site. Be careful what you do in sensitive areas.
Al

albundy wrote:I did pm you hilux-happy and warn you about the nesting birds and where not to go. I also gave you an alternative access route to get into the Ashley track. Obvisiously it was not taken onboard. Everyone can now see that our site gets watched everyday by other 4wd groups, ECAN, councils, greenies and others that would like to see us disappear and find stuff to hang us out to dry with. Be very careful what you say, post and do on this site. Be careful what you do in sensitive areas.
Al

al i took it onbourd. i know you pm me about it and i was awhere of the areas already i have posted this for all members, so as to be resposiable. i had nly planed to go to the ragiora road bridge, and once we got to the bridge other members were discussing a formed dedicated track that traveled up further,. the track we tok was all above bourd and no nesting sites we damaged or touched. all good al, i am more responsiabe than i think you would like to belive. all good mate thanks for the heads up anyways as i used you pm message to plan the trip on saturday.

albundy wrote:I did pm you hilux-happy and warn you about the nesting birds and where not to go. I also gave you an alternative access route to get into the Ashley track. Obvisiously it was not taken onboard. Everyone can now see that our site gets watched everyday by other 4wd groups, ECAN, councils, greenies and others that would like to see us disappear and find stuff to hang us out to dry with. Be very careful what you say, post and do on this site. Be careful what you do in sensitive areas.
Al

No dramas Al, Living in and knowing the area, the route taken had minimal to no impact on the "birdzone" areas.

Right now is the very start of the period when the birds start turning up so the following months through to I think Feb is the time to be conscious of the areas.

I did see a tern fishing right up at the Okuku confluence, but he was the only one I saw, mid summer there are quite a few to be seen. One good thing about the issues that come up on access is that it makes you aware to notice them. If there was no drama or they weren't endangered nobody would think to look for them and enjoy their presence.

The article Azza posted is well written and gives a pretty good balance I thought.

People please read carefully the post clipping that Azza has put on this post.

I add this to help educate:-
Frankly driving in open shingle river beds between mid August through to middle January is a total no no. Most nesting birds that use open shingle to nest in, nest during those periods, The Ashley, Waimakariri Rivers and a lot of other open shingle riverbeds in the south island sustain high numbers of nesting birds, as do Pegasus Bay and all of our Canterbury Beaches.

Follow the Treadlightly code, No 1 point and that is:- Check and get permission, do your homework, and understand the rules etc BEFORE going on a trip!

Cheers
Paul

We did follow the rules We did nothing wrong what we are hoping to achieve by posting this information is to prevent anyone else from doing something wrong.

What we have attempted to do is outline what the current rules are for this river.

This is what the ranger said:

The south side of the river was off limits, do not cross the river and back but you can drive into and out of the ruver on the north side, they have cleared areas for the birds to nest on that side and wanted it quiet so they can choose those areas. Also the area of the river bed west from the Rangiora road bridge the riverbed is off limits and you must only stick to the designated 4wd track till the okuku river (it is well sign posted) for us.

I am glad you followed the rules.

My point is simply this:-
Check out the rules PRIOR to running a trip.

Cheers
Paul

I can see the need for avoiding certain areas at various times so as to "tread lightly"....but the relevent local authority should put up clear signs to inform ALL users.
There are NO such signs where we entered the Ashley River (directly of state highway 1 )[/b]

I should really take this chance to say that so far despite all requests for some kind of formal rebuttal from ECan, they have so far not provided anything in writing that clearly shows exactly where we can and can't go on both the Waimak and Ashley rivers.

I understand that there is quite a bit of red tape involved in this process and I appreciate the local ranger trying to advise as best he can, he seems like a top-notch guy... but there really needs to be something formal, whether on ORE, the ECan website or even appropriate signs at access points.

I commend Hulux-Happy in his pro-active approach to try to sort out a lot of the confusion surrounding 4x4 access on these rivers.

Yay Hulux! big thumbs-up! :thumright:

cheers azza, i have sent another e-mail and i will post details as i recive them. there is very little info out there on access and we can only do our best to not upset the council and goverment to much. just lok at theboy racer issues. it only takes a few irrisposable individuals to wreck it for all. i have done everything i can to ensure that we dont go into places we shouldn't. and if i recive info that tells me i cant access an area, i wont go there. there are many places to enjoy still in the country and so to avoid losing more access i will be ever vigilent in my weekend trips. the last thing i want is a great day wrecked by a cranky ranger telling the group that we are in an area that we dont belong. i like to take the track less taken, but also like to be resposiable at the same time. i think the ranger i have meet up with twice now trusts us as a club and knows we are being resposable out there. he was relived when he reconised me on sunday and said he didnt relise it was me organising the sunday trip. he let us know about what was happening and seemed like a really nice guy. as they are monitering are web site i think they sould be approching us with good info, i think its just that there is so much going on right now and they are trying to arrange locations for us. it just takes a bit of time.....
anyway i have waffeled on long enough now. cheers guys