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The stage area of an unauthorised entertainment area within the Butterfield Wetlands, couches, speakers and a chainsaw were found surrounding the site. Photo: Evie Sinclair <\/p>\nThe Department of Conservation has slammed partygoers who cut down trees, built a stage and lit a fire in public conservation land near the H\u0101wea River.<\/p>\n
An \u201centertainment area\u201d including a stage, couches, fire pit, generator and barbecue was discovered by W\u0101naka resident\u00a0Chris White and her partner while they walked their dog through the Butterfield Wetlands at the start of the month.<\/p>\n
They reported their find to Doc, who this week confirmed staff had launched an investigation.<\/p>\n
Doc Central Otago operations manager Charlie Sklenar said the department\u00a0worked\u00a0to prevent this type of behaviour.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDamage to native vegetation on public conservation land is disappointing and can have lasting impacts on the natural values that these places are managed to protect.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe deliberate destruction of native vegetation such as k\u0101nuka is not acceptable and may constitute an offence.\u201d<\/p>\n
The stage area of an unauthorised entertainment area within the Butterfield Wetlands, couches, speakers and a chainsaw were found surrounding the site. Photo: Evie Sinclair <\/p>\n
Ms White\u00a0said she reported her discovery because\u00a0seeing the improvised\u00a0outdoor entertainment area made her feel \u201cdisappointed in the human race\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are trying to do the right thing and others just abuse it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Signs along the walking track shows fires and camping is prohibited along the Newcastle Track.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey know damn well you\u2019re not supposed to do this,\u201d Ms White said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s for the birds and the animals and the dogs and everybody to share, it shouldn\u2019t be one group taking it over,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI would hope all the gear gets taken<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they\u2019re out here having a party it makes you wonder where they\u2019re going to the loo.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is obviously no toilet here and I don\u2019t think they would walk back up the track and over the swing bridge,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Doc urged members of the public who witnessed damage to native vegetation, unauthorised fires, or any\u00a0activity that could damage public conservation land to report it as soon as possible, Ms\u00a0Sklenar said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe eyes and ears of the public play an important role in helping protect these special places for everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoc encourages visitors to enjoy these special places responsibly, follow any rules and restrictions in place, and leave the environment as they found it so future generations can enjoy it too,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
evie.sinclair@odt.co.nz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Department of Conservation has slammed partygoers who cut down trees, built a stage and lit a fire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-567104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}