DOC said it is "really concerned" about damage occurring in historic areas of Central Otago caused by four-wheel drive offroad vehicles and motorbikes.
The most recent terrain and vegetation damage from wheel ruts at popular four-wheel driving destinations in historic Macetown, Skippers township and the Chinamans Flat area has prompted a call for "safer and more careful driving."
Department of Conservation operations manager David Butt told 1News he's "disappointed" by the increase in the severity of track damage reported in the past 18 months.
"One of the things we know is that our heritage doesn't come back, so once that's damaged, that damage is permanent, and the native flora and fauna may take years to get back to where it was," he said.
Visitors to Macetown's historic gold-mining sites are welcome to walk, mountain bike, motorbike or four-wheel drive along the access trail, depending on weather conditions and river levels.
Butt said the issue is being caused by a "small minority," and there are serious concerns for endangered wildlife, such as river birds who nest on the gravelly areas of braided rivers near Chinamans flat at this time of year.
"They like to camouflage in the rocks, so often if you four-wheel drive in that area you'll run them over without even knowing it," he said.
Butt said each area is very different in how vandals are managed, however he said if people continue to disregard rules DOC could look at further preventative measures.
"It may be that we have different operations with other agencies, it may be that we use cameras in certain areas, it really depends on the area what we can do at different places," he said.
He said it's unfortunate that four-wheel drivers collectively are negatively branded due to a small "minority" of rule-breakers.
"I've had a conversation with the New Zealand Four Wheel Drive Association and they're as frustrated as we are, because it's not their members typically, again it's the minority that are doing this and [NZFWDA] are keen to see these people caught as well".
'Disappointed but not surprised'
NZFWDA president Steve Adam said he's "disappointed but not surprised" by this damage at historic sites.
"It's pretty frustrating from our perspective, because a few four-wheel drivers can rip up tracks, damage things and have no responsibility for it. And then all four wheel drivers are being tarred with the same brush," he said.
Adam said trying to educate people on respecting the tracks "won't make a spot of difference," citing a past incident of damage during a Crate Day gathering in Canterbury as evidence of careless attitudes toward the rules.
"Ideally we catch someone and make an example of them, through prosecution or something like that. Because it would be a disaster to have these tracks close, we need to do something to keep these tracks open."
He said 60 four-wheel drive clubs across New Zealand are part of NZFWDA, which teaches nearly 2600 individual members about DOC's code of conduct for using tracks.
"Join a club, they're so much fun and you'll learn to drive four wheel drives properly as well and you'll get to understand and respect your environment."
"And those that don't want to [respect] it, look out," he laughed. "I've got no sympathy for them, none whatsoever."
Otago Lakes central area road policing manager Steve Watt said police are also concerned about growing vandalism caused by off-road vehicle use in backcountry reserves, particularly Macetown and Skippers tracks which are public roads where "normal road rules apply".
"Anyone responsible for damage on a public reserve can face imprisonment and/or a fine under the Reserves Act 1997 or the Conservation Act 1987," Watt said.
Butt echoed this, saying fines under the Reserves Act can total up to $100,000 or up to two years imprisonment, but issuing these relies upon DOC "having good evidence".
"That's why we're relying on people who are out there seeing this damage to get in touch with us and report it so that we can follow up," he said.
Butt said anyone who sees any illegal or suspicious activity can contact the 24-hour DOC emergency hotline on 0800 362 468 to immediately and confidentially report it.
'If we don't respect it, we're going to lose it'
Among four-wheel drive communities, the damage has sparked a wider conversation online about the best way to get drivers following the rules and more widespread solutions to the growing problem of tracks being "torn up".
Four-wheel enthusiast Jono Hitchcox has been running his YouTube channel, 4X4 Monthly NZ, for almost five years. He said he posts off road content to "inspire and introduce people to the overlanding scene in New Zealand".
He said overlanding content has "skyrocketed" in popularity online over the last few years, heightened in part by Covid lockdowns that forced Kiwis to explore their own backyards.
"Once someone goes off track [and] rips up a piece of territory, then the next person comes along, sees that there and thinks 'oh it must be fine' and it turns into a piece of track essentially," he said.
Hitchcox said some of this offending stems from a "crackdown" on street-racing that he said drove street racers to look further afield, and off-road, to get their thrills.
"They started to realise that heat [on them] disappears the further you go off road," he said. "They're just trying to stay out of the eyes of the cops and instead it's creating a bad rap for the community of four-wheel drivers who want to be out there enjoying the place."
Hitchcox argued the window of opportunity for authorities to plausibly catch people breaking the rules are currently "slim to none".
"It takes someone else on the trail at the same time who is not a part of their party to capture that footage, then get out before them to be able to notify DOC or police via phone, and most of these places don't have cell phone coverage, then the police have to get on site before these people leave the territory," Hitchcox said.
He said a potential solution is to create more dedicated areas for people to "have a blast" without damaging native environment, however he said this quickly becomes an issue of cost.
"Of course there's going to be construction costs and [then] a fee to go in there and do it, which nobody wants to pay the fee because they want to do things for free. Its kind of a difficult place to start".
Hitchcox had a plea for drivers to think about the future when overlanding. The reason these tracks were still accessible is because previous generations "kept them under control".
"Now I think it's partly social media because [the] 'bigger wheel spin gets more likes' has created this culture where we want to be ripping these places up and very rapidly we're seeing them close," he said.
"If we continue this kind of behaviour, our kids and grandkids aren't going to be able to enjoy the same places we did," he said.
"We'll just be reminiscing on memories and looking back on videos thinking, 'maybe I shouldn't have ripped that place up'."
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