Riding dirt bikes can be fun. But they should not be ridden in Queen Elizabeth Park.
When riders start cutting down native trees to build tracks on sensitive, erodible sand dunes, then the illegal riding turns to destruction.
Rangers in Queen Elizabeth Park have discovered damaging track building on the southern fringes of the park near Paekākāriki. The tracks have been built around the Memorial Lookout leaving big scars on the landscape.
These are ecologically sensitive sites. They are also culturally significant.
The Park’s rangers appreciate the joy of riding dirt bikes. That is why the regional council has specific areas where this can take place. The Akatarawa Regional Park is a nearby park with well-defined tracks for dirt bikers.
Hopefully, people building the tracks will voluntarily stop doing this before the problem gets even worse.
