Cave and karst management at the local level: Puketiti Flower Cave, Waitomo Museum and Visitor Centre, Ruapuha Uekaha Hapu land claim, Ruakuri Tourist Cave ownership,

The following is a summary of my work associated with cave and karst management, along with other reserve development in the Waitomo area. It does not include general reserve work in the wider South Auckland Land District (Waikato).

Puketiti Flower cave QEII covenant and cave ownership

When I  was co-authoring  ‘A Basis for New Zealand Cave & Karst Management’, I was consulting with the NZSS on establishing protection of Puketiti Flower Cave on Puketiti Station, near Bennydale. I had visited Puketiti Flower Cave a number of times and it was clear it warranted protection. It is unique in Waitomo and nationally significant with one strikingly beautiful narrow passage extensively decorated with gypsum ‘flower’ speleothems (Radiating, curved, flower-like gypsum crystal speleothems/formations).

The narrow and consequently vulnerable ‘Flower Passage’ is extremely fragile, and many cavers were concerned about inevitable damage if access remained uncontrolled and unmanaged. Also, the land above was vulnerable to potential quarrying by the landowners who operated a large limestone quarry elsewhere on their property.

I contacted the owners and offered to guide them through the cave to convince them of its importance, beauty, and fragility. They were so impressed by the beauty and importance of the cave they agreed to its protection by QE II Covenant. However, before protection could be achieved, ownership of caves needed to be legally defined. Up to then who actually owned caves per se had not been clearly established. So, I sought a legal opinion from the Department’s Hamilton Solicitor.

It simply turned out to be in Common Law (unwritten law since time immemorial and law based on legal precedents established by the courts) that with the exception of Crown owned minerals and overriding superior legislation, “Whoever owns the land above owns the land beneath”, and that caves could be legally defined as voids under the lands surface.

This would later have major implications in respect to the Crown’s ownership of parts of the Ruakuri tourist cave (see below) and the general landowner perception of who owned caves and consequently their use for commercial cave adventure tourism. Up to that time local landowners believed they only owned one metre below the land’s surface and therefore were unaware they owned the caves on their property.

By using the NZSS cave survey, cave entrances/exits and topographical features  a boundary was defined covering the cave and a buffer zone. NZ’s first QE II Cave Conservation Covenant was then approved along with an agreement with the landowners that the land above be used for grazing only.

An in-cave gate was installed at the beginning of the fragile gypsum ‘Flower Passage’ and a permit system established and managed by the NZSS restricting access to 4 visits per year and maximum party size of 4 persons. Thus, the fragile ‘Flower Passage’ is still in excellent condition today.

Waitomo Museum of Caves and Visitor Centre, and the Waitomo Museum Society

The Waitomo Caves Museum Society was created in 1973 with modest displays in two rooms in the Waitomo Caves Hotel. In 1981 a museum specialising in caves and karst, paleofaunal sub fossil and local historic collections, along with local history displays was erected in a central location in the village from mostly local fund-raising and a bank loan. Peter Dimond, museum founder, Director, caver, and local farmer drove this development. 

Around this time, the Department decided that the visiting public and the Department would benefit from a visitor centre at Waitomo and approved a partnership with the Waitomo Museum Society along with a budget of $100,000 and I was appointed to the Museum Society committee as the Department’s representative.

Following the above, John Ash, a Museum Society committee member, prominent local caver, and co-owner of the adventure caving Black Water Rafting Company, along with Peter Dimond, and myself successfully applied for a grant of $270,000 from the Tourism and Publicity Department Community and Public Sector Grants (CAPS) to expand the existing buildings. Initially Minister Koro Wētere only approved half of the funds applied for, so I rang him and managed to convince him to fund the full amount.

With the above and other grants along with local assistance, the Waitomo Museum Society was able to significantly increase the exhibition space, add a collection storage room and a 50-seat audio visual (AV) theatre with a six projector multi-screen caving AV and later an AV interpreting the life cycle of the NZ Glowworm (Arachnocampa luminosa).

The Museum was now also able to produce more, and improved displays related to karst and cave development, cave biology, recreational caving, and local history, along with information about the local Scenic Reserves. The resulting museum/visitor centre received several awards.

I then established a well-attended Waitomo and wider area Summer Nature Programme with walks leaving from the Museum and night talks and presentations in the auditorium. Walks and talks focused on caves and karst, local flora and fauna and local history.

Ruapuha Uekaha Hapū Trust Land Claim

The land upon which the Waitomo Museum stands was formerly Māori owned land acquired by the Crown and designated Education Reserve. As a result of the museum expansion the land became the subject of a claim by the Ruapuha Uekaha Hapū Trust and subsequently returned to them. The Trust then leased the land back to the Crown, who in turn sub-leased it to the Waitomo Museum Society. 

Through this process, the Museum Society developed a closer and more meaningful and productive relationship with the Tānetinorau Opataia Whānau and Ruapuha Uekaha Hapū Trusts, in particular with Kuia Josephine Anderson of Ngāti Uekaha. Josephine investigated land ownership in her rohe (territory) as a direct result of the Education Reserve claim which led to a successful claim in 1990 of the Waitomo Glowworm Cave and other Crown Land and reserves in the Waitomo Village area.

I had some involvement with the claim in that having read the Department’s late 19th Century closed volume files, I suspected the Crown at the time had not informed the owners of the true potential economic value of the Waitomo Glowworm Cave and/or not all part owners had sold their shares or had been fully compensated/paid.

I discussed the matter with Kuia Josephine Anderson and after talks with DR Wally Sander SR John Greenwood and the Commissioner of Crown Lands Colin Christie,  I was given permission to make the files available to the Tanetinorau Opataia Whānau Trust. They were then presented by me to the Trust at a hui (meeting) at the local Tokikāpu marae.

The settlement was finalised in 2008 with the Trust owning 3 parts of the Waitomo Glowworm Cave and the Crown retaining 1 part. A shared management structure for the caves was established between the Trust and the Department of Conservation (DOC), with both parties contributing to the costs and sharing the profits. Other Crown Lands were also returned to the Trust.

Ruakuri Tourist Cave ownership

Once the common law premise of “Whoever owns the land above owns the land beneath” had been established, the question of who owned the THC administered and managed Ruakuri tourist cave arose in my mind and that it may have major implications in respect to the Crown ownership of extensive parts of the cave.

After reviewing the THC Ruakuri Scenic Reserve Management Plan and checking the associated cadastral maps, I discovered part of Ruakuri Cave was under Road Reserve. Therefore, owned/administered by the Waitomo District Council. Then ipso facto, any other parts of Ruakuri Cave outside the reserve belonged to whoever owned the land above. 

I discussed the Road Reserve and Ruakuri Cave ownership with John Ash, and we in turn discussed it with the Waitomo District Council Chief Surveyor Max Harris who volunteered to surface survey the area above Ruakuri Cave and locate the old survey pegs and accurately position known cave entrances/exits. John Ash, and I then surveyed and mapped the cave beneath and by overlaying the survey entrances/exits with those on the surface survey conclusively proved that a significant part of the cave was indeed in private ownership.

During this process, the THC threatened to take me and the ownership issue to the High Court. I politely told them to go ahead but be prepared to lose, as given the approval of the QE II Puketiti Covenant, I was confident as to the legal ownership of Ruakuri Cave. THC never made it to court. Subsequently a partnership and financial arrangement was agreed between the THC and the private landowner.

Waitomo and greater area: Biogeographic Reserve Proposal

Whilst working around Waitomo and Kāwhia areas down to the Mōkau River I became familiar with the forest diversity, karst, wildlife, and scenic values. It became apparent to me it was both possible and desirable to create a major lowland biogeographically designed reserve, especially as at the time lowland forest was underrepresented in the reserve system.

So, in 1982 (?), I prepared a major reserve proposal based on biogeographical principles comprising contiguously associated forests from the Awaroa Valley in the north to Waitomo in the south, taking in the Awaroa Scenic Reserve; Hauturu and Māhoe State Forests; Putaki Scenic Reserve; QE II Trust Houston Memorial forested corridor; Crown Land; and forest in private ownership. The proposal also incorporated the possibility of including the adjoining Tāwarau and Whāreoreno State Forests and the Herangi Range through to Awakino. Thus, traversing coastal through to montain forest ecosystems and plant communities.

Up to this time there had never been a comprehensive botanical survey of the Waitomo and greater Waitomo areas. So, at my request, a botanical survey was conducted by DISR Dr Bruce Clarkson, accompanied by me, to gather improved botanical knowledge for management planning purposes; potential private land purchases; QE II covenants; identifying forests for possible NZFS transfer; and for prioritising fencing and introduced wild animal and weed control. 

The surveys revealed the reserve proposal supported a number of significant plant species, including Asplenium Lyalii confined to limestone (karst), as well as the nationally at risk Awaroa koromiko (Hebe scopulorum) which occurs on just 5 or 6 karst outcrops in the entire country.  All in the Putaki-Awaroa area and all but one in the proposed reserve. Another outcome of the botanical survey was that plants that exclusively occur on limestone outcrops are a characteristic of the Waitomo area.

The reserve proposal also included swamp maire, uncommon and becoming rare in the area; quintinia-kamahi, an unrepresented forest association in the reserve system; the northernmost limit of Asplenium lyalli and the only location of the rare fungus Elfingid tornata. Overall, the botanical values were rated high to outstanding. Likewise, the wildlife values were rated outstanding by the Wildlife Service. The core area included moderate populations of kōkako, along with kiwi, kākā, NZ falcon, whitehead and fifteen other native bird species, along with long tailed bats.

No other reserves in the greater Waitomo area supported such biological diversity. Therefore, with the Department’s approval, I set out to acquire the State Forests by departmental transfer, private land by purchase and QE II Reserve Covenants. I also made presentations proposing the reserve to the Waitomo and Otorohanga District Councils and surprisingly, for the time, they were fully supportive.

I was successful in negotiating the transfers of the State Forests by the NZFS  in principle, as well as obtaining the funding for the purchase and fencing of 400ha of privately owned Putaki forest, essential to the core of the reserve proposal and including a square sided tower-like remnant karst feature, known as Ngā Whākatāra or The Lady supporting both Hebe scopulorum and Asplenium lyallii.

Ngā Whākatāra stands solitary and tall and can be seen clearly from Kawhia Harbour. It is said that the Tainui canoe captain Chief Hoturoa used it as a navigational aid to guide the Tainui canoe through the harbour to its landing and final resting place at Te Ahurei, Kawhia.  

Another remnant karst feature called Õtuatakāhi or The Dome located in a relatively small but key corridor widening area occurs on private land. However, despite guiding the landowner to the top and observing a pair of kōkako displaying and calling, along with explaining its botanical importance, I was unfortunately unsuccessful in achieving his agreement to sell or covenant this significant area.

The almost vertical sides of Õtuatakāhi also protects the upper surface area from stock and goat browsing, thus has undisturbed plant communities with numerous Hebe scopulorum and Asplenium lyallii. Botanist Bruce Clarkson described the top of  Õtuatakāhi as representative of plant communities existing in pre-European times and the introduction of goats and other browsing animals.

Whilst the State Forests are now administered by DOC, unfortunately, the reserve proposal has never been formalised.