Secrecy has surrounded the negotiations to buy the property after the Dunedin City Council announced in 2019 it had issued "notices of desire" under the Public Works Act, as part of a push to buy the 42 hectares of land to prevent mining there.
Last week we learned the council had reached agreement with the receivers of Plaman Resources to buy the site near Middlemarch for $924,000, comprising $864,000 for the land and mining permit and $60,000 for statutory entitlements under the Public Works Act.
As a condition of the sale Plaman’s receivers surrendered mining permits on the property.
The land has been described as the most important terrestrial fossil site in New Zealand, comprising a complete ecosystem, and has been compared favourably with the famous Messel Pit Unesco Geopark in Germany.
Foulden Maar’s 23 million-year-old crater lake contains a huge array of fossils, including insects, spiders, leaves, fish and flowers. Finds already include two of only five orchid fossils found anywhere, the oldest whitebait species in the world and the oldest freshwater eel fossil in the southern hemisphere. All this, even though only a tiny amount has been explored so far, likened to about two teaspoonfuls of a 200m-deep rugby field.
At its deepest point, the lake contains a unique climate record spanning 120,000 years, and information from this can be used in predictive global climate models.
Initially, the DCC indicated support for the mining plan after a briefing from the company. To its credit, it sensibly backtracked when it was made to realise the scientific significance of the site.
The fact the negotiations took more than three years indicates they were not straightforward, and it was pleasing to note SFM expressed gratitude to council staff and previous mayor Aaron Hawkins, "who fought so hard to make this happen".
Exactly what will happen next is yet to be spelled out. The council has confirmed its intention to preserve the property for environmental and scientific research purposes and that there is no intention to mine the property in any way.
Scientists, who have not had access to the site since April 2019, will be hoping they will be able to get back to work there soon.
Getting them on site should be the council’s first priority, SFM says. Beyond that, it wants to be part of any decisions on how it will be managed in future. Its vision includes a focus on research, avoiding high-impact tourism and investing in the nearby Middlemarch Museum.
It would also be good to see strong links between the site and the Waitaki Whitestone Geopark (which has Ms Clark as its patron), which is expected to become the first Unesco Global Geopark in New Zealand later this year.
Unesco describes its Global Geoparks as single, unified geographical areas where sites and landscapes of international geological significance are managed with a holistic concept of protection, education and sustainable development.
The Waitaki Whitestone Geopark is one of seven Geoparks which have been nominated by the Unesco Global Geoparks Council for endorsement by the executive board of Unesco in April. If all get the go-ahead that will bring the total number of Geoparks with this status to 184 in 48 countries.
As we have said before, there will be much work to be done to establish how Foulden Maar will be managed and funded in the long term, including what ongoing involvement the council might have. This is a process which should not be rushed and involve a thorough, inclusive process, making the most of both scientific expertise and community enthusiasm.
