Bid to extend 4WD drive ban on Canterbury 'river road'

A four-wheel-drive ban along a Canterbury river during bird nesting season could be extended.

The Waimakariri District Council will consider a proposal from the Department of Conservation to close the upper Ashley Rakahuri River to vehicles while birds are nesting.

Mayor Dan Gordon said he has requested staff to prepare a report for next month’s council meeting, after DOC staff addressed the council recently.

‘‘I have requested a report from staff to outline what options are available.’’

The lower Ashley River from the confluence of the Okuku River to the mouth, which is managed by Environment Canterbury, already has a vehicle ban during nesting season.

DOC manages the upper section of the river, from the confluence to the Ashley Gorge.

A DOC spokesperson said the legislation allowed it to close off the upper section completely to all users.

But it would prefer the Waimakariri District Council ‘‘to close the river as a road from next year’’, during the nesting season.

The river is home to several braided river species with many of them endangered, including wrybills, black-bill gulls, banded dotterels, black-fronted terns and pied oystercatchers.

The upper section of the river is also home to ‘‘one of the last strongholds of native biodiversity on the Canterbury plains’’, the spokesperson said.

The Ashley Rakahuri Rivercare Group has previously expressed concerns, saying people drive around nesting sites with no regard for the welfare of threatened species of birds.

Volunteers were out in force during Crate Day last November, to protect the birds from revelers out in their four-wheel-drives.

By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter

■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.