The Battle of Mt. Augustus
Graham Jury : 13th January 2009
Ecological Values
Mt Augustus used to support a rich tapestry of largely unstudied life north east of Westport in the South Island. Its high altitude and extreme weather conditions caused the animals and plants that lived there to evolve over hundreds of thousands of years to best meet the requirements of this isolated location.
For the most part, this complex community of rare and poorly studied plants, all but unknown invertebrates, great spotted kiwi, and alpine geckoes received scant scientific attention due mostly to its inaccessibility. When the Department of Conservation briefly surveyed this alpine ecosystem in the late 80’s and 90’s, they listed it as one of the three most important biodiversity hotspots in the Ngakawau region of the South Island. While they were only able to make cursory descriptions of this unique natural area, they could still see its ecological complexity, and they recommended it as an area for government protection (Overmars et al 1998; 89-97).
Unique ecosystems are important for many reasons. Not only are they repositories for new species that await formal discovery, but they are also time capsules that help the scientists of today to understand the complex and fascinating processes that have occurred throughout ancient history to form the world as we know it.
Unfortunately this ecosystem sat upon a valuable coal reserve that Solid Energy held a license to mine. The coal of Ngakawau makes the soil of this region highly acidic, which in turn creates an environmental pressure upon the plants and animals to adapt to cope with this. This has contributed to the specialized evolution of localized native species. Because this coal is part of the ecosystem, taking it away poses risks to the stability and health of the species above that have come to rely upon it. And because coal is so valuable, most such “coal measure ecosystems” have already been dug up and destroyed by mining (ibid; 25). This makes the ones that remain even more important to science and the remaining coal reserves even more appealing to business.
In 2003 a new species of NZ land snail was officially identified on Mt Augustus (Walker, 2006; 27). By the time the Mt Augustus Snail began to receive serious attention in 2004, an estimated two thirds of its habitat had been destroyed by strip mining for coal undertaken by Solid Energy (ibid, 45). Powelliphanta snails are carnivorous mollusks found only in New Zealand. These bizarre animals move too slowly to colonize new areas rapidly.
Over New Zealand’s turbulent geological history groups of Powelliphanta have been frequently separated into small geographic areas, and cut off from the wider population for many thousands of years (ibid; 14). These pocket colonies have adapted to meet and depend upon the highly specific environmental conditions of their habitat, making Powelliphanta a critically important genus to New Zealand evolution science. The Augustus snail has likewise evolved to cope with, and depend upon the high altitude, low pH, high rainfall and complex plant community of Mt Augustus (ibid; 40).
Political Conflicts
The area that remained of this precious landscape became fiercely contested by environmentalists who wished it protected, and the coal lobby who sought to harvest it. The 1991 Resource Management Act would normally make an industrial project this environmentally destructive illegal.
Solid Energy was regretfully able to exploit a legal loophole in the Act because their Stockton coal mining license predated it. Despite clear scientific advice that the snails were too specialized to their home to survive anywhere else, Solid Energy proceeded to extend its mine and attempted to shift the snails to a different location.
P. augusta had never been successfully bred in captivity, nor successfully transplanted to another area (ibid, 187). Powelliphanta in general have typically faired very poorly when shifted out of their natural range (ibid; 188).
A number of groups opposed this proposed mine including Forest & Bird, Buller Conservation Group and the Save Happy Valley Coalition. Despite years of court battles, the law successively failed to protect this animal, and Solid Energy were granted full permission by Conservation Minister Chris Carter to destroy 94% of the remaining habitat, and to shift the snails into nearby areas that they are not adapted to survive within.
SHVC brought a judicial review of this decision but, because it was forced to concentrate only on the process the decision maker followed, this failed on legal grounds. Only the Environment Court could consider the science and the risk to the snails from Solid Energy's actions.
While the Environment Court judges could not fault the legality of the mine extension, they nevertheless described the project as “noxious” (Kenderdine et al, 2006; 51). The judges stated; “we think there is little doubt that from the scientific and environmental point of view, the snails should not be moved” (21). “We record our disappointment at what has occurred” (22).
SHVC engaged in a series of non-violent direct action tactics in opposition to a governmental decision that flew in the face of its own biodiversity strategy, and a legal loophole that exploited failings in the current legislation. SHVC began an occupation of Mt Augustus in the aim of delaying and harrying this environmental destruction. An SHVC activist barricaded himself to the doors of the DoC snail containment facility dressed in an immense Powelliphanta costume. Activists Greg Curline and Simon Riddell delayed a shipment of Mt Augustus coal from leaving Lyttelton harbor by locking themselves to train tracks outside Christchurch, causing significant economic damage to Solid Energy. They were both charged with Trespass on the Railways.
Mt Augustus Today
Today, only a small stub of natural Powelliphanta augustus habitat remains. “Area A” as it is officially known, is too rocky, exposed and sparse to support a viable snail population in the long term, and it is very vulnerable to erosion (Walker 2006, 86).
Most of the translocated snail colonies nearby have faired very poorly to date, with a predictably high mortality rate in the snails (Gruner; 2008). Three colonies have so far reached reasonably stable mortality rates, but it is much too early to know if these can survive in the long term (ibid).
Around a thousand snails remain in a captive facility in Hokitika, run by DoC. DoC has so far succeeded at breeding, hatching and raising the snails (ibid), however with their natural habitat destroyed they are likely to remain in the fridge for the near future.
The future prospects of this unique species are bleak, and the impacts upon the lesser known invertebrates and plants of Mt Augustus can now never be quantified. This was New Zealand’s first example of State-sanctioned species extinction. Everyone can learn a valuable lesson from this bureaucracy-driven environmental tragedy by working collectively to protect the next precious New Zealand natural area to be threatened by Solid Energy - the nearby Happy Valley.
References
Kenderdine, S., B. Dwyer, J. Rowan & W. Howie 2006; “Decision No. C 141/2006, In the Matter of the Resource Management Act 1991 (the Act) and in the Matter of an Application for Enforcement Orders and Declaration under Sections 311 and 316 of the Act, between Save Happy Valley Coalition Incorporated and Solid Energy New Zealand Limited, Record of Oral Decision Given by Judge Dwyer on Application for Interim Enforcement Orders.”
Gruner, I.; (Ecosystems Technical Support Officer for Department of Conservation West Coast, and a member of Solid Energy’s Snail Translocation Technical Advisory Group); 2008, “Official Information Request Correspondence 491 – P. augusta”, Wednesday 26th November.
Overmars, F., M. Kilvington, R. Gibson, C. Newell & T. Rhodes 1998; “Recommended Areas for Protection”, in Ngakawau Ecological District: Survey Report for the Protected Natural Areas Programme, Department of Conservation, West Coast Tai Poutini Conservancy, Hokitika, 60-106
Walker, K., 2006; “Affadavit by Kathleen Joy Walker in Response to Direction of the Environment Court Dated 14 August 2006”, Environment Court Christchurch Registry, 2006/CHC/363-364, 1-25
