Doc stance on landscape stuns architects

Southern landscape architects are "staggered " by claims the Department of Conservation is not an expert on landscapes.

Otago conservator Marian van der Goes made the comments at an Otago Conservation Board meeting last month, in response to criticism about Doc's lack of involvement in the Project Hayes wind farm hearings and appeal.

At the meeting, Central Otago Environmental Society and Save Central spokesman Graye Shattky said if Doc was not the public guardian of landscapes, who was, and Ms van der Goes said the department was not an expert on landscapes.

"If it's not an expert, then it should be," Wanaka landscape architect Anne Steven said last week, speaking on behalf of the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects southern branch.

"Doc should have landscape expertise alongside ecological, recreation and cultural heritage," she said.

The department had wide responsibility for protecting landscapes under the Conservation Act 1987 which said one of Doc's functions was to generally advocate the conservation of natural resources.

At the board meeting, Ms van der Goes said Doc was an expert on biodiversity but did not employ a "wall of landscape architects".

"Doc cannot simply be an expert on biodiversity and ignore landscapes," Ms Steven said.

"There seems to be a complete and ongoing failure to understand that landscape is the broader context for biodiversity and many other values. If landscape is protected, other values are protected."

The conservator's comments were incomprehensible at a time when important natural landscapes were being " besieged by threats from all sides", Ms Steven said.

Approached by the Otago Daily Times for her response last week, Ms van der Goes said Doc was an advocate for landscape in many ways.

" . . . we engage with the district councils as they develop their district plans to ensure that outstanding landscapes are given recognition, we work actively to protect the landscapes we manage, and we are involved in the tenure review process where we advocate for significant inherent values on pastoral leases including landscape."

Conservation was the business of all New Zealanders, she said.

"Doc is a leader in this business, but it can't do it all."

lynda.van.kempen@odt.co.nz