title: Where the wild things are: Examining the intersection between the RMA 1991 and the Wildlife Act 1953

authors: Wallace, Philippa Jane

subjects: New Zealand

abstract: Recent case law has drawn attention to the impact of the Wildlife Act 1953 (WA) and its intersection with the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). Some of the decisions have been summarised in previous RMLA publications and it is the intention of this article to examine more closely aspects of those cases. A particular focus is the use of review conditions related to wildlife in resource consents and the role of an Assessment of Environmental Effects (AEE).

text: Where the wild things are: Examining the intersection between the RMA 1991 and the Wildlife Act 1953 Recent case law has drawn attention to the impact of the Wildlife Act 1953 (WA) and its intersection with the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). Some of the decisions have been summarised in previous RMLA publications and it is the intention of this article to examine more closely aspects of those cases. A particular focus is the use of review conditions related to wildlife in resource consents and the role of an Assessment of Environmental Effects (AEE).

year: 2009

title: Magnitude and controls on the net carbon balance of a New Zealand raised bog

authors: Goodrich, Jordan Paul

subjects: peatland

abstract: Peatlands play an important role in the Earth system as both persistent carbon dioxide (CO₂) sinks and methane (CH₄) sources. However, large uncertainties remain in our understanding of peatland carbon cycle – climate feedbacks. The majority of research has been conducted in the Northern Hemisphere as most of the global peatland area is located there. Few data have been collected in Southern Hemisphere peatlands and there is a limited basis for predicting how these systems will respond to changing climatic drivers and other anthropogenic forcings such as drainage for agriculture. Furthermore, it is unclear whether our knowledge of peatland functioning and carbon (C) cycling from the Northern Hemisphere translates to systems that have developed under different climatic and hydrologic settings with unique vegetation.  

To gain a better understanding of peatland carbon and greenhouse gas exchange in a globally distinct and unique peatland type, I used eddy covariance to measure net ecosystem CO₂ exchange (NEE) and CH₄ flux (FCH₄)  in an undisturbed New Zealand raised bog over ~2.5 years. The overarching goals of this research were to determine magnitudes of the main components of the ecosystem C budget, gross primary production (GPP), ecosystem respiration (ER), and FCH₄, and their sensitivity to environmental and physical drivers. 

With respect to CO₂ exchange, high VPD periods restricted the light-saturated photosynthetic capacity during clear sky days. Elevated VPD was also the only condition that led to reductions in daily total GPP, a response likely triggered to reduce transpiration water losses. These results have important implications for the future C sink strength of New Zealand peatlands given a trend toward drier summers with clearer skies and higher VPD.

With respect to FCH₄, a severe drought during summer 2013 allowed me to explore the interacting controls of temperature and water table depth. During 2012, a relatively average meteorological year, annual total FCH₄ was 21.5 g CH₄⁻ C m⁻² yr⁻1, whereas total FCH₄ during the drought year (2013) was 14.5 g CH₄⁻C m⁻² yr⁻¹. I found that water table depth was the most important overarching control on FCH₄ over various timescales from weekly to inter-annual. Water table depth regulated the temperature sensitivity of FCH₄, which was highest when the water table was within 50 – 80 mm of the surface. This depth range corresponds to the relatively shallow rooting zone of the dominant vegetation, which may provide much of the substrate for methane production.

Kopuatai bog was a very strong C sink compared to Northern Hemisphere bogs and fens. Despite the elevated ER during the drought year, Kopuatai was a sink of 74.5 gC m⁻², which is at the high end of published Northern Hemisphere estimates. The more average meteorological year (2012) resulted in a much larger sink of 152 gC m⁻². This work has revealed the importance of atmospheric controls on plant CO₂ uptake and hydrologic (i.e. water table) effects on ecosystem respiration and FCH₄, when considering the overall C balance. These effects imply that the future C sink capacity of Kopuatai bog may be reduced due to the long-term trend toward drier, sunnier summers and more frequent droughts in the region.

text: Magnitude and controls on the net carbon balance of a New Zealand raised bog Peatlands play an important role in the Earth system as both persistent carbon dioxide (CO₂) sinks and methane (CH₄) sources. However, large uncertainties remain in our understanding of peatland carbon cycle – climate feedbacks. The majority of research has been conducted in the Northern Hemisphere as most of the global peatland area is located there. Few data have been collected in Southern Hemisphere peatlands and there is a limited basis for predicting how these systems will respond to changing climatic drivers and other anthropogenic forcings such as drainage for agriculture. Furthermore, it is unclear whether our knowledge of peatland functioning and carbon (C) cycling from the Northern Hemisphere translates to systems that have developed under different climatic and hydrologic settings with unique vegetation.  

To gain a better understanding of peatland carbon and greenhouse gas exchange in a globally distinct and unique peatland type, I used eddy covariance to measure net ecosystem CO₂ exchange (NEE) and CH₄ flux (FCH₄)  in an undisturbed New Zealand raised bog over ~2.5 years. The overarching goals of this research were to determine magnitudes of the main components of the ecosystem C budget, gross primary production (GPP), ecosystem respiration (ER), and FCH₄, and their sensitivity to environmental and physical drivers. 

With respect to CO₂ exchange, high VPD periods restricted the light-saturated photosynthetic capacity during clear sky days. Elevated VPD was also the only condition that led to reductions in daily total GPP, a response likely triggered to reduce transpiration water losses. These results have important implications for the future C sink strength of New Zealand peatlands given a trend toward drier summers with clearer skies and higher VPD.

With respect to FCH₄, a severe drought during summer 2013 allowed me to explore the interacting controls of temperature and water table depth. During 2012, a relatively average meteorological year, annual total FCH₄ was 21.5 g CH₄⁻ C m⁻² yr⁻1, whereas total FCH₄ during the drought year (2013) was 14.5 g CH₄⁻C m⁻² yr⁻¹. I found that water table depth was the most important overarching control on FCH₄ over various timescales from weekly to inter-annual. Water table depth regulated the temperature sensitivity of FCH₄, which was highest when the water table was within 50 – 80 mm of the surface. This depth range corresponds to the relatively shallow rooting zone of the dominant vegetation, which may provide much of the substrate for methane production.

Kopuatai bog was a very strong C sink compared to Northern Hemisphere bogs and fens. Despite the elevated ER during the drought year, Kopuatai was a sink of 74.5 gC m⁻², which is at the high end of published Northern Hemisphere estimates. The more average meteorological year (2012) resulted in a much larger sink of 152 gC m⁻². This work has revealed the importance of atmospheric controls on plant CO₂ uptake and hydrologic (i.e. water table) effects on ecosystem respiration and FCH₄, when considering the overall C balance. These effects imply that the future C sink capacity of Kopuatai bog may be reduced due to the long-term trend toward drier, sunnier summers and more frequent droughts in the region.

year: 2015

title: Visitors' satisfaction with heritage sites in New Zealand: Causes and complexities, clusters and causes

authors: Trinh, Thi Thu

subjects: Heritage Tourism

abstract: The thesis presents findings from a survey of over 1,000 visitors at three New Zealand heritage sites. These sites were Te Puia, the Rotorua Bathhouse Museum and the Rangiriri Battlefield Interpretation Centre. All three represent a key period in New Zealand’s history from the period of approximately 1840 to 1900, but in the case of Te Puia there is also a continuing contemporary cultural importance. This last site, located in Rotorua, was founded as the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute and was established to perpetuate Maori tradition skills in areas such as carving and weaving. Its location was in part determined by the volcanic nature of the valley, long inhabited by members of Te Arawa tribal people. The site has a strong connection with tourism as Te Arawa have entertained tourists from the mid-nineteenth century in the volcanic area. The site therefore represents a tourism site from the perspective of history, culture and natural heritage. The Bathhouse Museum represents a period of late colonial architecture while the third site, the Rangiriri Battlefield is based on the remnants of the Pa (Maori fortifications) that was the site of a battle between the colonial government forces and the Maori Kingi movement on November 23rd 1840.

The motive for the research was to provide a profile of visitors for the respective sites and their management, and then to assess to what degree socio-demographics might be explanatory variables in determining future visitation. The core theories being employed revolved around concepts of levels of interest in heritage and historic sites, the intellectual search for knowledge, and the degree to which people became involved in the activity of heritage site visitation. The work was driven by the finding that only about 11 per cent of visits to cultural tourism sites were ‘purposeful’ tourists as defined by McKercher and Du Cros (2002). Being purposeful implies having specific degrees of interest, of becoming involved and possibly seeking meanings that implied senses of identity. That is, self-awareness accrued from having a better understanding of the past as a means of knowing about the present. This conceptualisation implies use of the theories of involvement, benefits and self-awareness, and the managerial aspects of interpretation.  Normally such an approach has been seen by many researchers as a determinant of satisfaction, but in this thesis satisfaction is not seen as simply an end to a process. Rather, this thesis argues that to be satisfied entails not only cognitive and affective components, but also the conative. That conative component can include making recommendations to others, making visits to other heritage sites, or joining organisations associated with heritage sites such as the New Zealand Historic Place Trust. These form key themes in the literature review.

Unfortunately, while these premises emerged from the literature review and informed the hypotheses that are later described in the thesis, they were not wholly supported by the data. It is suggested that one reason for this, from a statistical perspective, was that measures used were subject to multi-collinearity and auto-correlation – put simply, many of the variables are not independent from each other. For example, it is suggested that satisfaction is actually enhanced by subsequently being able to make recommendations to friends and others; that the act of making a recommendation enhances one’s own self in both the eyes of that friend or through an enhanced self- perception of being helpful, and thus auto-correlation may exist between these variables.

This realisation thus leads, in the conclusions of Chapter Eight, to new suggestions for potential future researchers concerning ways of looking at the nature of involvement that draw on distinctions between situational and enduring involvement. Finally, it also needs to be noted that tourists are not lay historians, but are the makers of their holidays, and hence the debate is contextualised within the act of being on holiday, which itself is a period of escape and relaxation for many. Hence the relationships being examined in this thesis are complex, interactive and yet rewarding to untangle.

text: Visitors' satisfaction with heritage sites in New Zealand: Causes and complexities, clusters and causes The thesis presents findings from a survey of over 1,000 visitors at three New Zealand heritage sites. These sites were Te Puia, the Rotorua Bathhouse Museum and the Rangiriri Battlefield Interpretation Centre. All three represent a key period in New Zealand’s history from the period of approximately 1840 to 1900, but in the case of Te Puia there is also a continuing contemporary cultural importance. This last site, located in Rotorua, was founded as the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute and was established to perpetuate Maori tradition skills in areas such as carving and weaving. Its location was in part determined by the volcanic nature of the valley, long inhabited by members of Te Arawa tribal people. The site has a strong connection with tourism as Te Arawa have entertained tourists from the mid-nineteenth century in the volcanic area. The site therefore represents a tourism site from the perspective of history, culture and natural heritage. The Bathhouse Museum represents a period of late colonial architecture while the third site, the Rangiriri Battlefield is based on the remnants of the Pa (Maori fortifications) that was the site of a battle between the colonial government forces and the Maori Kingi movement on November 23rd 1840.

The motive for the research was to provide a profile of visitors for the respective sites and their management, and then to assess to what degree socio-demographics might be explanatory variables in determining future visitation. The core theories being employed revolved around concepts of levels of interest in heritage and historic sites, the intellectual search for knowledge, and the degree to which people became involved in the activity of heritage site visitation. The work was driven by the finding that only about 11 per cent of visits to cultural tourism sites were ‘purposeful’ tourists as defined by McKercher and Du Cros (2002). Being purposeful implies having specific degrees of interest, of becoming involved and possibly seeking meanings that implied senses of identity. That is, self-awareness accrued from having a better understanding of the past as a means of knowing about the present. This conceptualisation implies use of the theories of involvement, benefits and self-awareness, and the managerial aspects of interpretation.  Normally such an approach has been seen by many researchers as a determinant of satisfaction, but in this thesis satisfaction is not seen as simply an end to a process. Rather, this thesis argues that to be satisfied entails not only cognitive and affective components, but also the conative. That conative component can include making recommendations to others, making visits to other heritage sites, or joining organisations associated with heritage sites such as the New Zealand Historic Place Trust. These form key themes in the literature review.

Unfortunately, while these premises emerged from the literature review and informed the hypotheses that are later described in the thesis, they were not wholly supported by the data. It is suggested that one reason for this, from a statistical perspective, was that measures used were subject to multi-collinearity and auto-correlation – put simply, many of the variables are not independent from each other. For example, it is suggested that satisfaction is actually enhanced by subsequently being able to make recommendations to friends and others; that the act of making a recommendation enhances one’s own self in both the eyes of that friend or through an enhanced self- perception of being helpful, and thus auto-correlation may exist between these variables.

This realisation thus leads, in the conclusions of Chapter Eight, to new suggestions for potential future researchers concerning ways of looking at the nature of involvement that draw on distinctions between situational and enduring involvement. Finally, it also needs to be noted that tourists are not lay historians, but are the makers of their holidays, and hence the debate is contextualised within the act of being on holiday, which itself is a period of escape and relaxation for many. Hence the relationships being examined in this thesis are complex, interactive and yet rewarding to untangle.

year: 2013