Father and son kayakers make impassioned plea

Two generations of kayakers have made a plea for the Nevis River to be left alone.

Gordon Rayner and son Max (12), of Alexandra, both presented submissions yesterday on how much they enjoyed the sport and the importance of the Nevis to kayakers.

A special tribunal hearing submissions on a proposed change to the Water Conservation Order on the river was told by Mr Rayner that the Nevis was a treasure which had a much greater value left alone.

Mr Rayner is river protection officer for Central Otago Whitewater, a kayaking group with about 250 members.

He is also a kayaking coach, active in the sport himself and is the current national veteran (over 45) slalom champion.

He supported a prohibition on damming the Nevis.

"The construction of the Clyde high dam and the formation of Lake Dunstan was a catastrophe for Central Otago's whitewater."

The dam project destroyed about 50% of Central Otago's "kayakable" whitewater.

Kayaking had grown in popularity, especially in the past 20 years.

Only skilled kayakers would tackle the Nevis river, but the young people involved in the sport now were more highly skilled at a younger age so "today's hard river becomes tomorrow's mainstream kayak run", Mr Rayner said.

Any development on the Nevis would be inconsistent with its current status as a wild and scenic river.

"It must not be sacrificed for a short term gain."

Central Otago had given its share of rivers to the electricity industry, Mr Rayner said.

"The environmental footprint of industrialising the Nevis Valley for hydroelectricity would be huge.

This is 2009, not 1970.

"There are alternative ways for our nation to save and generate power to avoid making the mistake of allowing the Nevis to be desecrated for power generation."

Max said he was the third generation of Rayners to kayak.

"I am part of a big group of kayaking kids in Alexandra and have been doing Grade 3 rivers in the last two years," he said.

"One day I want to kayak the Nevis River. At the moment I am not good enough, but I am working hard to get better so I can kayak the Nevis safely.

"We learn about protecting the environment at school. Aren't rivers part of that? Please don't let the Nevis River be dammed."