A lack of local representation on a new Department of Conservation (DOC) appointed board tasked with progressing the recommendations of the Milford Opportunities Masterplan, has Fiordland tourism operators upset and demanding action.

The project, initiated in 2017 by the government, was mandated with finding a long-term strategy for managing tourism and conservation in Piopiotahi Milford Sound and the Milford Road.

In July 2021 the masterplan had been completed and included a raft of recommendations including a park and ride system, overseas visitors' fee and the now rejected proposal to ban cruise ships and close the Milford Sound airstrip.

Current board members include chair Jenn Bestwick (Queenstown), Arihia Bennett, Dave Bamford, Muriel Johnstone (Riverton), Michael Skerrett (Invercargill), Bill Day (Wanaka) and Andrew Patterson (Auckland).

Local operators have long awaited action over the jewel in Fiordland’s tourism crown, but the lack of local representation at board level as the plan progresses, has prompted Fiordland business owner Kate Norris to call for action.

She’s calling a community meeting for 11th Dec and also setting up a community-led Te Anau and Fiordland Representation Working Group to “make sure our region has a real say in decisions affecting Milford Sound Piopiotahi”.

“At the moment the Milford Opportunities Project Board has no local representation, despite Te Anau and Fiordland being the communities most impacted,” Norris says.

The voices of the 350 workers based in at Milford during the summer season also matter and the group will “push for proper representation of both the Te Anau and Milford communities”.

This follows an open community meeting that DOC held in Te Anau in September, that aimed to update members of the community and to respond to any concerns or queries, she says. The meeting was well-attended with over 40 people.

Norris says locals pushed for that meeting after being excluded from an earlier meeting in Queenstown over the next steps for Milford.

“Not long after they agreed to a Te Anau meeting, we got an email naming the appointed board,” she says.

“I said, ‘This is unbelievable on something this big that’s affecting our whole community,” she says.

Norris says she approached MP Joseph Mooney and the Southland District mayor and councillors, who agreed Te Anau should be represented.

“I have support from councillors and other community leaders in Te Anau and Fiordland who were all shocked that we had no representation,” she says.

Her lobby group’s first goal will be ensuring at least one dedicated Te Anau member on that board.

“We need to be part of that Milford decision making and communication."

"We don’t want to be left out as this is directly affecting our communities and our businesses,” she says.

“This community wants change, not another big report sitting doing nothing.”

She says locals aren’t impressed that despite the Milford Opportunities Project report strongly recommending that Milford be viewed as an “individual entity” the government has handed the process over to DOC.

“They can’t treat Milford Sound in isolation."

"People travel through Te Anau, so they’ve got to look at the whole journey to Milford,” Norris says.

The local community believes that change is needed to make Milford sustainable.

Hers isn’t the only group that’s been concerned about the makeup of the representation.

“This is so important, and it will be the blueprint that they use around New Zealand at other tourism hotspots."

"Millions have been spent so far, and we need to call them out and put our hand up or we can’t complain later,” Norris says.

Conservation Minister Tama Potaka says:

A total $18 million has been invested in planning for change at Milford between 2017 and 2024.

“It is important to me that the next phase of work at Milford is focused on action. In June, Minister Upston and I announced our full support for tourism and conservation in Piopiotahi, and along the Milford Road, committing $15.2 million of investment into infrastructure improvements for Milford Piopiotahi in the short term.”

That includes $7 million of DOC investment in infrastructure improvements and $8.2 million in new International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) funding

“People in Milford Piopiotahi will have already seen improvements that have been made to remediate a landfill site and improve Cleddau River flood protection,” Potaka says.

DOC is making improvements to the Milford Piopiotahi visitor experience, including new short-stop visitor experiences at Gertrude Valley and Sinks Bridge, improvements to short-stop visitor sites at Lake Marian Hinepipiwai and Gertrude Valley, a new gateway pou whenua, and new toilets at Deepwater Basin.

“Implementing the MOP Business Case’s recommended options, requires an ongoing funding source, a step-change in our broken concessions system and a more enabling management regime. Work to address these is well underway.

“In August, I announced more details on my plans to fix the Conservation Act that will unleash a fresh wave of tourism and infrastructure concessions, in locations where that makes sense, and a new international visitor access levy,” he says.

“This will unlock funding to pay for hundreds of millions of dollars of infrastructure improvements over the coming decade. My expectation is that DOC is ready to implement the legislative changes rapidly once the Bill has passed.”

Former Fiordland Business Association chairperson and accommodation operator Nathan Benfell says he was “hugely disappointed” that local representation had been overlooked on the new board.

“They need to lean on local people who are invested, some who’ve given hours of service to protecting the park and enhancing the experience.”

While there may have been some good work done so far unfortunately that hadn’t been communicated to the local community, he says. “I’ve had two people ringing me in the last two days wanting to know what we are going to do about it.”

DOC director heritage and visitors Catherine Wilson says at the board’s first meeting (14 Nov) they “identified and discussed the need for better representation of the Te Anau community into the Milford programme.

“DOC is still in the process of finalising the board and is considering how to improve community representation through that,” Wilson says.

“We’ve been made aware of the community meeting and we’re hoping to be able to meet and hear their concerns.”

Wilson says at its first meeting the board also agreed on the importance of building on Milford Opportunities Project’s work to deliver key recommendations from the business case, staying focused on action to meet Conservation Minister Tama Potaka‘s expectations with plans to identify “quick wins and trial new solutions at Milford”.

The new board has also agreed to stand up an advisory group given the wide range of interests in Milford, from central and local government agencies, community organisations and conservation groups.

This group will play a key role in shaping the future transport strategy, priorities for DOC’s short-to-medium-term work programmes, and work on spatial planning and the future visitor journey, Wilson says.

She says DOC is committed to working with residents, industry and Treaty partners to ensure community wellbeing, environmental protection, and long-term sustainability are central to decisions.

DOC director heritage and visitors Catherine Wilson says:

There are three key parts to the Milford work:

• Short term investment and action, including infrastructure improvements detailed above, and short-term work to plan for natural hazards and improve congestion. This work is underway now.
• Legislative change: Work is underway to deliver changes to the Conservation Act, including the introduction of a new international visitor access charge, improvements to the concessions system and a new approach to management planning. This new levy, concessions regime and management planning is expected to be introduced to the House early next year and should be ready for implementation by 2027/28.
• Transition phase - Planning for significant change will happen over the next two years to ensure DOC can deliver for Milford Piopiotahi quickly once legislation has passed.

Sue Fea is a senior journalist with more than 40-years experience covering police, social and general news in the southern regions.