Brian Rudman: Volcanic sites deserve UN recognition
It would be nice, every now and again, if the Department of Conservation's Wellington bureaucrats showed signs of appreciating that a third of DoC's annual $300 million income comes out of the pockets of Auckland taxpayers.
But once again, with the release of DoC's list of 'six tentative candidates' for World Heritage Site listing, Auckland gets the cold shoulder.
Instead, remote and sparsely peopled sites far from the Big Smoke pick up three of the six nominations: Kahurangi National Park at the northwest corner of the South Island, the ghost-town of Oamaru farther south, and the distant Kermadec Islands 1000km northeast of civilisation.
The other three are Papamoa Pa near Tauranga, Waitangi Treaty Grounds and Napier's dinky cluster of post-earthquake art deco buildings.
Now far be it from me to bad-mouth these places, or ponder whether they're worthy of a place on a list that includes the Taj Mahal, Great Wall of China and Tower of London. "

 

"'The Mount' to be given back to Maori
Mauao, better known to many as Mt Maunganui or simply the Mount, is likely to be handed back to Maori this year.
The Tauranga Moana iwi say that public access to the 232m dormant volcanic cone at the entrance to Tauranga Harbour will be preserved.
Waiariki MP Mita Ririnui, who is overseeing legal details for the handover, said he expected Maori ownership of Mauao to be returned 'sooner rather than later'.
Mr Ririnui, the Associate Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi negotiations, said a 'no surprise approach' was probably the reason there had been no public backlash to the proposal.
In fact, little or nothing should change for Mt Maunganui."

 

Auckland's natural castles and marae
When the Department of Conservation released a tentative list of candidates for world heritage listing last week, Auckland's volcanic field was missing.
But interest groups say the list is a mere starting point and they are determined to press for world heritage status for the geologically unique volcanic field.
Mt Eden could be the shop window, with campaigners for a visitor centre seeing potential in an education centre that promotes the entire volcanic field under one roof.
The field, which stretches from Milford to Manurewa, includes prominent cones such as Rangitoto, North Head and Mt Eden, craters, tuff rings, lava flows and caves.
In pre-European times, the cones were valued pa sites. Since colonisation, many have been quarried, levelled, built on, used as playing fields and covered in trees. But awareness of the need to preserve what's left is growing, highlighted by the Auckland Volcanic Cones Society's successful campaign to divert a motorway route around Mt Roskill. "