Workers racing the clock at Fox River to save West Coast wildlife and reputation

Friday, 12 July 2019

On a remote West Coast river bed hundreds of volunteers and government workers are racing against the clock to pick up rubbish washed out of an historic landfill three months' ago. How did it come to this? DEBBIE JAMIESON and JOANNE CARROLL report.

Floating plastic looks like jellyfish, Southland woman Joyce Kolk says.

'This stuff will be eaten up … it will be killing wildlife.'

Kolk is one of hundreds of New Zealanders and visitors who are donating their time and energy to Operation Tidy Fox – an effort led by the Department of Conservation (DOC) to clear the Fox River of more than 5000 tonnes of rubbish after a storm in March exposed a disused landfill.

Rubbish was strewn across 1620 hectares and has been seen on the coast as far north as Okarito, and south to Martins Bay in Fiordland.

**READ MORE:

* Coast mayor and conservation minister in spat over landfill rubbish 

* Asbestos, needles found among Fox River waste

* 81 year old volunteers for Fox River rubbish cleanup

* Urgent plea for more Government funding for West Coast rubbish clean-up

* New Zealand's piles of historic rubbish-with a sea view

* West Coast waste will end up in deep sea canyon, scientist warns

* Scale of beach clean-up after West Coast rubbish dump burst 'big, nasty'**

It has been described as New Zealand's 'worst ecological disaster since the Rena oil spill'.

The Westland District Council and local volunteers attempted the initial clean-up but Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced on June 19 the Government would take the lead.

DOC has since offered to transport, feed and house those who help, with the number of volunteers increasing from about 10 a day to 80.

Representatives say the situation is being treated 'with the utmost urgency'.

It needs to be because the arrival of September traditionally brings heavy spring rains and snow melt. As the river level rises it becomes increasingly dangerous for people to be in the riverbed and any rubbish that has not been collected will likely be washed out to sea, into the paths of wildlife.

Fur seals, Hector's dolphins and seabirds including albatross, petrels, little blue penguins and Fiordland crested penguins/tawaki, face becoming entangled in the trash or ingesting it.

However, there is another threat – the threat to the clean, pristine, green image New Zealand projects to its visitors.

Glacier Country Tourism Group chairman Ashley Cassin believes the disaster could harm New Zealand's reputation and tourism branding.

'It's a significant risk to our 100 per cent pure image and here on the West Coast our brand is untamed natural wilderness. That will be severely undermined by rubbish all over our beaches and the Fox River bed. It's not a good look,' he said. 

The group had been lobbying the Government for help since March and was pleased to see the effort ramped up under DOC leadership.

Many are concerned it was left in the Westland District Council's hands for too long and the organisation could not cope.

Okarito resident Mike Bilodeau, who was first on the scene and the first volunteer co-ordinator, says both the council and the Government 'dropped the ball from the beginning'. Volunteers picked up rubbish for months while the authorities squabbled over who would pay.

'The Westland District Council didn't do what they were supposed to do. They came to the table with the bare minimum because they were hoping all along that someone else would take responsibility.'

Council recovery manager Te Aroha Cook defended the council's role, saying it responded as soon as it became aware of the issue. An incident management team was set up on April 2 and commercial helicopter operations flying volunteers to inaccessible areas started on April 3.

It had spent $300,000 provided by the Government, and at least another $300,000 of ratepayer money, on paying helpers and providing protective equipment, vehicles, helicopters, rubbish bags and lunches.

Ratepayers are still paying to have collected rubbish taken to the Butlers Landfill, Cook says. 

The scale of the problem and lack of resources affected the council's ability to respond, she says.

When the council first approached the Government for funding, it asked for $1 million, with $750,000 sought as a minimum. Cook says the council was grateful for the $300,000 but always said it was not enough.

In a slightly strained press release announcing the Government's decision to take over the efforts, Sage said DOC had also provided $130,000 of in-kind support.

'Despite this, the council ceased work on the rubbish clean-up on 31 May and indicated that it lacks the resources or capacity to do more work.'

DOC was given another $450,000 to get the work done and has since shipped in its own people and has support from the NZ Defence Force.

Bilodeau feels central Government's response is still lacking in that it does not address how councils across the country will deal with the hundreds of at-risk landfills near coastlines and riverbeds. Sage said in an RNZ interview it was not up to DOC to resolve councils' past mismanagements. 

'If it does happen again we need to be ready to fix it much more quickly,' Bilodeau says.

'Four months later we are still only scratching the surface. We need more people. It could happen to any town in New Zealand at any time.'

The first wave of defence force personnel joined the effort this week and there are plans to send up to 70 people, plus vehicles and aircraft in several waves.

The main target area is the first 5 kilometres of riverbed. The work is challenging with large amounts of rubbish intermingled with trees and vegetation.

Once that is complete they will move down the remaining 16km of riverbed where there is less rubbish to pick up on a walk past – similar to the rubbish  strewn along the coastline.

Clearing the rubbish from the coast involves helicopters and staff with specialised skills. One big sweep has taken place already and another is scheduled to pick up rubbish washed up in isolated areas.

Kolk is keenly aware of that.

As a founder and trustee of the Southern Coastal Charitable Trust, she has run four major clean-ups in Fiordland and the west coast of Stewart Island, collecting more than 56 tonnes of rubbish and becoming a recipient of the Queen's Service Medal for services to conservation.

She has volunteered herself and husband Johan Groters to help on the West Coast and awaits dates.

'[The rubbish] is going to come our way … If we don't do it now I think we're going to have to do it later. Stewart Island is a natural collection area for rubbish.'

Also keen to help is Christchurch man Gerard Daldry, the founder and major shareholder of trucking and earthmoving firm ProTranz, who is known for his community-minded efforts.

After the Christchurch earthquakes he won an international award for the innovative methods he developed to demolish red-zoned hilltop homes. He also lent a hand following earthquakes in Nepal and Kaikōura and the recent Nelson fires.

He is happy to provide trucks and manpower but is discussing the potential of dealing with the troublesome landfill. It is still unknown how much rubbish remains but the council says testing is under way.

'We need to cap the bloody thing,' Daldry says. 'Even if it means trucking in a heap of boulders and building a boulder wall.

'If you're just going in and picking up rubbish and don't deal with the source then it's going to be the gift that keeps giving.'

Denis Marshall is also doing his part from his vineyard near Queenstown. New Zealand's minister of conservation from 1990 to 1996, he is the founder and chairman of the NZ National Parks and Conservation Foundation, which is calling on its members and the wider public to donate to the cause.

'The $300,000 they've got, I'm sure they will at least need to double that. It's a hell of a job. I guess it's doable but it's a long slow process.'

He sent half a case of his Hawkshead Vineyard pinot for a Saturday afternoon reprieve, following a workers' request. 'If we sent a pallet of wine they wouldn't do any work,' he joked.

On the West Coast everyone is rallying.

Matheson Cafe owner Chris Alexander began providing free packed lunches for the first volunteers in March. 

Since the numbers had grown and DOC had taken over, he was getting paid but he only charged DOC the bare minimum for the lunches, which are brought down to the river for volunteers every day. 

He believes DOC should pay contractors and volunteers to get the job done more quickly. 

Cook Saddle cafe and saloon manager Shelley Scott is providing evening meals for volunteers, and charging DOC for only the cost of the ingredients.  

Helping the volunteers is good for the community and good for business, she says. 

'People attract people. It's a slower time of year for us so when people see our restaurant full they are more likely to come in and know it must be good.' 

Fox Glacier's Ivory Tower backpacker owner, Dale Scott, says he has been accommodating volunteers 'since the very beginning'. 

'For the first month we were doing it for free when there were only half a dozen but this week we have 60 a night so DOC are paying us.' 

He says it is important to do his bit. 

'It's really bad. It's a community thing. We contributed to the rubbish over the years so we should be contributing to the clean-up. It's been amazing to see the community come together. Everybody is helping out.'

Volunteers can help restore the Fox River by signing up on DOC's website.