Boom times on the West Coast

Courtesy of NZ Today Magazine

By Allan Dick

When the government legislated an end to the logging of native timber in NZ, it was the West Coast that was the hardest hit. This was not only the area where most of the logging was still being carried out, but it was also one of a handful of major industries in a semi-depressed region.

The government softened the blow by giving the West Coast $120 million — some locals still call it their “Treaty Settlement” — to invest in whatever they decided was needed to keep the economy going.

While there was controversy and some ill-feeling in other parts of NZ at the end of a traditional industry, on the West Coast there was deep resentment. For some of us, outsiders, it was easy to look on and tell the Coasters to stop complaining and just get on with it; particularly as the region had huge and largely untapped potential in tourism.

But what that smart aleck response didn’t take into account was that there’d been 140 years of tradition and you couldn’t expect a man who’d been a sawmiller or a logger for 35 of his 50 years to take up baking muffins for the German back-packers or Sushi for Japanese tourist.

That was in early 2001. By October that year the West Coast Development Trust had been set up with $120 million — $92m to the new trust and $7m each to the four local councils — in the bank and they opened the door for business.

Mike Trousselot is the Chief Executive Officer and although he’s not a Coaster, he is a neighbour, coming into the job from through the passes and over the Southern Alps in Canterbury.

Trousselot says in the six years since the settlement the Coast really has turned an economic corner and while there was strong resistance, anger and resentment at first, those who decided to get on with it have done well. That new direction is paying rewards and is now trickling down through the community.

“So many houses, shops and buildings have been re-decorated on the Coast that someone asked me if we had done a bulk deal with a paint company and had been giving paint away.

“What happened is that there is now a very positive feeling and people are taking a pride in their properties — that’s been encouraged by a major leap in property prices here on the Coast. Places that were only worth tens of thousands of dollars have skyrocketed and their value is now in the hundreds of thousands.

“Little shacks built by hippy squatters in the old days along stretches of the coast like the Punakaiki road are now priceless. The two towns that stand out as being a success are Karamea and Reefton.

“In Karamea we have invested in the Oparara walkway project. This is a multi-million dollar project that takes in some spectacular limestone country and the walking tracks have opened this area to tourists. We also invested in the town information centre.”

Near Karamea we spotted an enormous set of glass houses — as massive as we have seen anywhere in NZ.

“Yes, that’s tomatoes. Karamea is warm with good rainfall so horticulture is going to be very strong there. Karamea have the tomatoes but we’ve also invested in a large cranberry farm in Buller. It’s early days yet and it will take about eight years for this to reach maturity, but we’re confident. Tamarillos are another suitable crop for this region.”

“Reefton is great. The people there looked about and decided to build on their heritage values. They were lucky that even during the downturn years, most of the buildings in Reefton weren’t altered — so there is a very strong heritage feel to the place.”

How about “outsiders” who have come in and bought property to help Reefton’s rebirth?

“There had been talk for some time of the re-opening of the gold mine and some people in Reefton waited to see if that was going to happen. But the outsiders took the chance and bought property while prices were low. So there probably is a feeling among some Reefton people that they waited just a bit too long.

“But Reefton is really a place where you can see the new West Coast on display.”

While Westport is looking better than we’ve seen it look for decades, the town misses out of the major tourist traffic and there’s concern over the future of the cement works with Holcim negotiating a shift of their NZ operation to near Oamaru.

“Don’t think the Holcim move is a done deal. It’s not. Westport is making some very strong bids to retain the cement works. But it’s probably right to say that there is too much reliance on too few industries in Westport.
“It’s true Westport does miss out on mainstream tourism. People coming up the Punakaiki road from Greymouth turn right and head off the coast through the Buller Gorge, instead of left and visiting Westport and going up the coast to Karamea.”

Maybe this is a case for “completing the loop” — the proposal to push a road through the wilderness from Karamea to near Collingwood, roughly following the Heaphy Track. That’s a controversial suggestion and one that is very sensitive environmentally.

The Trust has invested in mining and property— significant investments that have paid off and the Trust has been repaid.

“Our other main investments have been in fishing, forestry, dairy and tourism. Those are the main industries over here with tourism the largest single employer.”

South of Hokitika, where you run out of towns and into pristine wilderness, tourism is the largest employer. Franz Josef, Fox Glacier and Haast are virtually mini Queenstowns in their own right.

“Yes, south of Hokitika you are talking pretty much tourism as the dominant industry. We have just invested $4 million in a major tourist operation at Franz Josef — The Hukawai Glacier Centre, which includes an ice climbing wall.”

Although the $120 million settlement was entirely for the people of the West Coast, some of the projects that the Trust has invested that money in have come from “outsiders”, but the projects must be based on the coast, promote employment opportunities and, obviously, be soundly based. All details regarding these investments are confidential. The net assets of the Trust are now over $120 million.

While significant, the settlement was not as large as some of the settlements under the Treaty of Waitangi and it wasn’t universally welcomed on the coast. But the changes that have occurred on the coast have been huge. We can’t recall going to any large area in New Zealand where so much change has occurred in such a brief period.

“The Coast has led the country in every area of growth for the past few years,” say Mike Trousselot. That is entirely believable. Isn’t it reassuring to know that some settlements have worked to this sort of degree.
The Coast is booming and there is every indication the boom will get bigger and bigger.