Connecting New Zealanders to Lakes
Exploring public access to lakes in Aotearoa
Introduction
New Zealand's lakes are taonga, a valuable resource. Public access connects people to the social, ecological, cultural, economic, and recreational values of lakes. Barriers to access can lead to the loss of lake knowledge, stories, and cultural practices and enable lake degradation.
This StoryMap presents the results of a geographic assessment of public access undertaken as part of a summer scholarship (2020-2021) for Cawthron Institute. The assessment forms part of the Lakes380 project . This project aims to assess lake health for about 10% of New Zealand's 3,800 lakes (> 1 ha). There is environmental data for fewer than 5% of lakes and most data only encompasses 20-30 years of lake history. Lakes380 also aims to understand the connections and values lakes hold for people.
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to evaluate legal and practical access to lakes in the Lakes380 dataset for members of the public.
Methods & Results
The research entailed a geographic analysis of Lakes380 lakes. These lakes were selected by the research team based on geographic spread, altitude, species, catchment land cover, and cultural significance.
The analysis sought to identify at least one legal and practical access point for each Lakes380 lake, and then classify how difficult access would be for everyday members of the public.
The software ArcMap was used with GIS layers from the New Zealand Walking Access Commission , the Department of Conservation , Land Information New Zealand , and Environment Canterbury. Other resources like Google Street View, internet searches, and information from the Lakes380 team were used to "ground-truth" access.
Lakes were classified as easy, moderate, difficult, very difficult, or legally impractical based on method of access (e.g. driving, walking).
Classification categories for lakes.
Lakebed ownership, land ownership around the lake, and legal or recreational use was added to the dataset.
The results revealed 33% of lakes were easily accessible and 28% were legally inaccessible (i.e. private property prevents public access).
We invite you to use the interactive map to explore lake access data for Lakes380 lakes.
Note: these results present research undertaken by Cawthron Institute and may not represent the views of agencies that supplied data. Additional investigation is recommended before using this map to access lakes.
Values
People value lakes for many reasons. Lakes (roto) have significant importance to mana whenua, for example as mahinga kai (food bowls). They are popular tourist locations and hold economic value. Lakes have recreational value and important social and cultural connections. They are important sources of biodiversity and contribute to our sense of wellbeing.
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Tourism
Lakes are popular tourist locations. Lake Wakatipu is an easy to access lake next to Queenstown. It is valued for tourism, which also also provides economic value to the city of Queenstown.
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Recreation
Lakes like Lake Wanaka in Otago are valued for recreation. Lake Wanaka is an easily accessible lake popular for swimming, water sports, and tramping in the nearby Mount Aspiring National Park.
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Social
Lake Clearwater in Canterbury, which is moderately easy to access, is visited for recreation and holidays. There are baches and a campground by the lake.
Lakes like Lake Clearwater have significant social value. They are focal points for important social interactions.
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Cultural
Lakes (roto) have significant cultural importance to mana whenua, including as mahinga kai (food bowls), waahi/wāhi tapu (sacred sites), sources of mātauranga (knowledge) and connections to tūpuna/tīpuna (ancestors).
The Rotorua group of lakes in the Bay of Plenty and Waikato regions are owned and managed by the Te Arawa Lake Trust . The lakes are easy to access and popular for recreation and tourism.
For Te Arawa , the lakes are more than physical landscapes, they are taonga. They have intangible values like healing, cleansing, wairuatanga (spirituality), and whakapapa (genealogy). The lakes are core to the Te Arawa identity.
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Ecological
Lake Opouahi in Hawke's Bay is an easy to access lake that forms part of the Opouahi Scenic Reserve. The lake and the reserve have ecological value. The reserve is home to a kiwi crèche protected by a predator-proof fence.
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Wellbeing
The easily accessible Lake Pukaki in Canterbury is a spectacular glacial lake nestled at the base of the Southern Alps and Mount Aoraki. Visiting and connecting to lakes like Lake Pukaki contributes to people's sense of wellbeing.
Challenges
When people lose their connection to lakes, lake environments and the values they hold can degrade. Many of the lakes in the study were inaccessible or had problematic access.
Lakes380 team co-leader, Susie Wood:
"I think that probably about 90% of New Zealand's lakes most New Zealanders don't know exist... most of our lakes are either in national parks in quite remote areas or they are locked on private land so that most people wouldn't know they are there".
Lake Changes & Degradation
Horseshoe Lake next to State Highway 7 is on a private station and is legally impractical to access. Prior to the highway (pre-1940s), the lake was part of the Glenn Wye Station with a pack track next to the lake. The lake reportedly had crystal clear water.
In 1888, a major earthquake caused a pack track to collapse into the lake. The earthquake also led to the formation of a floating island and levelled native raupō by the lake.
In 1935, a country club next to the lake was considered. The club was never constructed. Instead, human activity and natural events have changed the lake and degraded lake values.
Map of Glenn Wye Station with Horseshoe Lake in 1911
Use the slider in the map below to explore Horseshoe Lake in 1911 before SH7 and the subdivision of Glenn Wye Station.
Photos: LINZ & National Library of New Zealand.
Unformed Legal (Paper) Roads
Road parcels were an early method of establishing reserves. They were part of the "Queen's Chain", in use between 1840-1892 , which was intended to provide public access to recreational areas.
However, many legally-established road parcels were not used to form public roads, pathways, or clearly marked reserves. These are known as unformed legal or "paper" roads. Several unformed legal roads still exist near lakes, providing legal but not necessarily practical access to lakes.
Lake Puketi in Waikato has an unformed legal road next to the lake reserve. The lake is part of a conservation area but surrounded by a private farm. Access to the road is visible from Google Street View (click on stars) as private entrances to the farm. Accessing the lake would entail passing through a private farm.
You can read more about your rights and responsibilities when accessing lakes via unformed legal roads here .
Lake Puketi. Photo: David Schmale, Lakes380.
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Remote Locations
Lake Troup is one of 27 lakes sampled by Lakes380 in Southland's Fiordland National Park. The Lakes380 team accessed many of these lakes by helicopter.
These lakes were classified as very difficult to access.
These alpine lakes are pristine with high ecological values, but are visited by few people.
Ongoing Work
There is ongoing work to improve public access to New Zealand lakes and their socio-ecological values.
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Restoration
Horseshoe Lake in central Hawke's Bay is on the privately owned Mangarara Station . Since 2005, owners Greg and Rachel Hart together with volunteers or "care holders" have undertaken native planting of the lake shore. Their efforts have been rewarded with increased numbers of wildlife visits from bird species like Australasian spoonbills and an Australasian bittern.
The Harts have also transitioned from a traditional sheep station to a farm focused on regenerative agriculture with the aim of increasing biodiversity on the whole farm. Watch this video for more information.
Horseshoe Lake is open to the public and many community and school groups have visited. The lake can be visited by arrangement.
Scenic lakeside accommodation is available at the Mangarara Eco Lodge.
The work of landowners like the Harts together with volunteers is important for restoration of lake environments. Landowner cooperation is critical for improving lake access.
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Negotiating Access
Lake Johnson is an easily accessed lake near Queenstown. A marginal strip runs along the north and east boundaries of the lake, which is otherwise on private land.
Fish and Game have negotiated an access point for fishing by a short walk from a road.
Organisations like Fish and Game NZ and the NZ Walking Access Commission continue to work with landowners to establish and improve public access to New Zealand's lakes.
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Treaty Settlements
Treaty settlements have returned the ownership and governance of some lakes to tangata whenua.
Lake Waikaremoana is the ancestral home of Ngāi Tūhoe. It is part of Te Urewera, the first natural feature in the world to be granted legal personhood .
Lake ownership was bitterly contested between the Māori owners and the Crown between 1918-1947. Māori ownership of the lake bed was recognised by the courts in 1948. In 2014, the Ngāi Tūhoe treaty settlement vested Te Urewera in a legal identity and transferred its administration to the Te Urewera Board.
Access to the lake is open to the public and one of New Zealand's great walks encircles the lake.
Lake Herengawe in Taranaki (legally impractical to access). Photo: Lakes380
Aotearoa has a remarkable variety of freshwater lakes. Connecting New Zealanders to lakes helps to increase lake knowledge and promote their values. This requires a range of people and agencies to actively work to establish and ensure continued access.
Public
Make time to visit your local lakes. Encourage landowners to provide access to lakes. Respect the wishes of landowners and regulations when you visit. Minimise your impact by following the principles of Leave No Trace .
Landowners
Landowners with lakes on their property can provide and enhance access to them. Agencies like Fish & Game NZ and the NZ Walking Access Commission can provide legal advice and resources to assist in establishing access.
Government agencies
Local government and agencies like Fish & Game NZ, the Department of Conservation, and the NZ Walking Access Commission can continue to improve and establish access to lakes. Local government agencies can improve existing access by signage and maintaining or establishing access points.
