Spikes planted on Urewera track

A Te Urewera Maori protest group that is demanding a halt to 1080 poisoning has denied booby trapping a popular walking track in the national park with road spikes made from nails and planks of wood.

John Sutton, Conservation Department Rangitaiki area manager, said the improvised road spikes were found buried on a tramping and mountainbike track near the Okahu Valley access road, which has become the centre of a land rights protest in Te Urewera National Park.

The public access has been blocked for the last 10 weeks by Maori sovereignty group Majesty's Authorised Incorporated to oppose aerial 1080 poison drops and to promote land rights issues in the park.

The group has occupied a campsite at the entrance of Okahu Valley Rd to prevent access to the park and Whirinaki Forest Park from State Highway 38 between Murupara and Waikaremoana.

MAI spokesman Amo Tawa said the road spikes had been put there by local farmers to prevent cattle rustlers.

"They were there before we started the protest. We warned anyone going into the park to look out for them."

Mr Tawa said it was not necessary to spread 1080 in the area because there was no evidence of tuberculosis in stock near the park boundaries.

"We believe tourism operators in the park are exploiting the land owners for their own financial gain."

Mr Sutton said Okahu Valley Rd was a public road and the road block was illegal but the department was powerless to demand it be removed.

"Everyone has a right to protest but to interfere with public access is against the law."

He had been physically stopped from driving up the road, he said.

"The police are the only ones who can authorise the protest to stop."

Mr Sutton said the protest would not affect a deed of settlement signed last year between the Crown and Ngati Whare for co-governance of Whirinaki Forest Park.

The settlement is due to become law this year.

"It's frustrating because we can't get staff in there to monitor the kiwi recovery programme," Mr Sutton said.

Minginui mountainbike shuttle bus operator Scott MacDonald said the road block was hurting the business.

"We're turning away people who want to ride the Moerangi track from the Okahu Road end but are not allowed access."

The 35-kilometre bike track had attracted hundreds of mountainbikers since it opened last year, he said. There was public access from the Minginui end of the track but it was steeper, longer and more difficult.

Rotorua police Acting Sergeant Richard Collier said he believed mountain bikes may have had their tyres punctured by the spikes and if a complaint had been laid it would be under investigation by Murupara police, who could not be contacted for comment yesterday.

Area commander Inspector Bruce Horne said last week he had met the protest group to discuss the issues and work toward a resolution.

A meeting between all parties is to be held at Ngaputahi church near the road block today.

- © Fairfax NZ News