Sounds & fury

Bold plans to ease overcrowding in Milford Sound are mired in red tape as local business opposition swells.

- PETA CAREY

How to fix the overcrowding issue at Milford Sound/Piopiotahi has been the focus of intense discussion for more than four decades. Even in the early 1980s, the influx of visitors during the peak summer months seemed unbearable. Back then, the annual numbers edged over 200,000 a year. In 2003, this writer wrote for the Listener about the proposal to lower a barrier arm across the road when Milford reached capacity - by then, about 450,000 a year. In 2019, pre-Covid, visitor numbers reached 870,000. Operators are preparing for a similar influx this summer, more than 6000 people on a typically busy summer's day.

We've heard or endured the horror stories - the nose-to-tail and overtaking traffic on State Highway 94 (Milford Road), the chaos in the carparks, the queues to buy a lukewarm pie or board a vessel, even the boats queueing to take their place in front of Stirling Falls for passengers to snap selfies. And then there's the force of nature - avalanches closing the road, or floods and cascading debris doing far worse.

Talks begin, talks ebb, the cycle of discussions and proposals have come and gone over four decades with the nor'west storms.

Until now, perhaps. The latest fix-it mission began in 2017 and is gathering political force and momentum. Its official title: the Milford Opportunities Project, with the rather unfortunate anagram of MOP. Six years on, a 1400-page masterplan in place, the question is: will MOP "fix it" this time, and if so, at what financial, legislative and human cost? And what will be the ripple effect on conservation land throughout Aotearoa, for tourism operators and on the intrinsic values and governance of our national parks? 

When MOP was established in 2017, it consisted of a working group from local government, iwi, the Department of Conservation (DOC) and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). It was chaired by the forthright ex-Meridian CEO, Keith Turner.