News article

By Paul Pope

Coastal erosion has been a hot topic in Dunedin over recent months with the ongoing damage to the St Clair sea wall and the erosion of the dune areas at St Kilda at Ocean Beach Domain. Yet these issues are not new and have been ongoing for over 100 years, often with resulting action to stem the rising tide of public opinion and the loss of our dune system. Recently, more people have attributed the decline of Ocean Beach to the effects of climate change, but in light of historical research over management and land use that appears premature. Don’t burn me at the stake and accuse me of the heresy of climate change denial just yet, please! People need to understand that the weakening of Otago’s dunes and dunes nationally are a product of historic land use, poor development choices, widespread removal of indigenous vegetation and attempts to tame untameable natural processes.

The following articles should give you a starting point on the issues facing Ocean Beach Domain in Dunedin. I’ve become alarmed that the general public of the city are woefully ignorant of the nature and importance of the coastline and have created a page on Facebook called “The Beginners Guide to Coastal Conservation.” It’s a mixture of the historical and scientific and so far has been working well.

Here are two links from articles I’ve written for New Zealand’s oldest conservation organisation, the Dunedin Amenities Society, founded in 1888. It’s a rather bitter irony for me that as an advocate for native plant dune restoration I should be writing for the organisation that first brought marram grass to Dunedin in 1890! However, times change and so does the environmental consciousness about habitat restoration and I’m pleased to have been part of that change in the last 25 years.

The first article “Armed for the Fray” is the true story of how the Mayor and Councillors of St Kilda took on the government in 1880 to stop the mining of sand at Ocean Beach. It was originally researched by the late John Perry and presented at the Dunedin CDVN conference in 2002 at my request. When John passed away his widow Virginia asked me to sort his papers and this was amongst his things. With her permission I added to the research and edited parts of what is a ripping good yarn.  What is telling about the story is whether there are still politicians in our community today who would so passionately take up the cause to protect their community and its dunes.

“St Clair Esplanade – When History Repeats” is a cautionary tale of 140 years of mismanagement of the coastline, where people have tried and ultimately failed in understanding the processes they are trying to control. It’s a lesson in failure and continues to be one as the southern coast pounds the wall in and its environs into submission. After the reconstruction of the wall in the early 21^st century 15 years later we are watching its demise.