RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AT WAITOMO CAVES 1983
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this paper is to update information given in other papers at previous conferences and to describe new facilities and developments at Waitomo Caves to April, 1983.
WAITOMO CAVE MUSEUM
The most exciting development at Waitomo since the first exploration of the Glowworm Cave has been the establishment of the Waitomo Caves Museum. The Museum Society was formed ten years ago and like most small community museums the first objective was to preserve and present the local history, a history dominated by the development of Waitomo Caves as a major New Zealand tourist attraction. The society established a small museum in Waitomo's old tourist hotel - itself an elegant and historic museum piece. This museum operated successfully for four years but in 1977 had to go into storage during major refurnishing of the hotel and the museum could no longer occupy valuable space on the ground floor. The Tourist Hotel Corporation who administer the caves and hotel at Waitomo offered to assist with the major funding of a new building to house the museum and so with much excitement planning began.
A central site was acquired in the village and a building was designed based on a Canadian plan for small museums, construction began in late 1980. Attention then focused on the internal plan and during this period the museum objective changed from its previous objective of recording and presenting the local history to providing a modern interpretative resource to complement Waitomo's main physical resource, the caves. Although the facility could be called the "Caves Interpretation Centre" the title Waitomo Caves Museum was retained. Much advice and assistance was sought and given from local and overseas experts, from universities and Government institutions but most of the planning, design and construction of displays was done locally by dedicated and knowledgeable society members. In October 1981 the museum was officially opened, the whole complex costing around $120,000; $70,000 of this was from a loan which is serviced by the Tourist Hotel Corporation, about $15,000 came from government grants and the remainder raised locally, no mean feat for a small rural community. Displays covered several distinct areas. In the geology of Waitomo section there is a topographical model of the Waitomo River catchment which shows the relation between the geology, topography, drainage patterns and the locality of known caves. Alongside are displays of the rock types, geological maps and columns, a three dimensional model of the Glowworm Cave and cut away models of caves and cave development.
Several of the displays are dynamic, for example with flowing water, others are touchable, people are encouraged to pick up and examine large fossils and speleothems. Another section of displays covers fossil and subfossil remains found in caves, caves are rich depositories of remains of Waitomo past wildlife, sadly most of the species displayed are now extinct or very close to it. The conservation of caves as valuable scientific resources is strongly emphasised. Another display focuses on cave lighting both tourist and non-tourist from past to present. Alongside is a display on lampenflora. This is considered not just a caves management problem but also a curious scientific phenomenon. This provides a link to the next major section "Life in Caves" with a display of the various life forms and processes that make up the cave food web, adjacent displays concentrate on particular life forms that demonstrate the principles of biospeleology. These are the New Zealand glowworm, its life cycle, ecology and bioluminescence, the carabid beetle is an example of a troglobite and a comparison of the bush and cave wetas in their adaptations to two difference environments. The museum's original function of presenting the local history has not been over looked and a large section covers this area. Wild caving techniques, equipment and surveying are also covered, again much of the equipment can be handled. There is a "kiddies cave crawl" where children (and others) can push and squeeze through a simulated cave squeeze with wetas and sound effects; this is very popular.
Other displays cover Maori place names and walks around Waitomo, the commercial use of limestone and scenic reserves around Waitomo. An audio visual theatre seats about sixty people and shows a program on "Wild Caving" every half hour or on request. Another program for special groups is on "The Development of Caves" and more programs are planned. In the summer season there are evening lectures on cave related topics most nights. The theatre is used frequently throughout the year for meetings, conference, lectures and educational courses by the wider Waitomo community. The museum has also developed into a respected scientific reference and archival institution. There is a very large collection of subfossil remains taken from caves, these are mostly identified and catalogued. The museum houses the New Zealand Speleological library with a large collection of cave related volumes, papers and journals. Much of the recent research done on the caves at Waitomo is achieved in the form of theses and miscellaneous papers.
Research and education are also important roles. There are three full time research students collecting, identifying and cataloguing cave animal remains, existing life forms and cave minerals. There is also a full time educational officer, a qualified teacher who is available to give lessons to visiting school groups, this service is well patronised. There are four part time paid curators and one full time typist giving a total of nine paid staff, five of whom are paid under special government work programs.
The museum is open every day of the year and in the first year attracted 23,000 visitors, there is a door charge of $1 for adults and no charge for children including school groups.
THE NEW FACILITIES BUILDING
Another very exciting development at Waitomo has been the building of a Facilities and Reception Complex 100 metres from the entrance to the Glowworm Cave. Again this was a long term project and there were many difficulties in getting started. There were plans for such facilities as long as 15 years ago but there were many obstacles. Site problems near the entrance to the cave posed environmental problems. There were zoning difficulties to overcome and objections from local businesses who were concerned that any new commercial activity might affect village trade. A costly environmental and social impact report was commissioned by the Tourist Hotel Corporation. This report analysed the problems and suggested deferment or major modifications to the original plans and concepts. This particular project was abandoned in 1975. In 1980 a new plan was put forward. This was an imaginative yet sensitive plan that blended in well with the existing landscape dominated by a grove of tall Californian Redwoods, the careful planning meant the buildings posed few environmental problems. The main building had a ground floor for public shelter and souvenir sales, a small office for ticket processing and operations control, and a small workshop/storeroom. Upstairs contained the cave manager's office, staff locker room and staff toilet.
The rest of the construction involved an assembly decking, public toilets, shelter and seating. Again the same zoning problems and local objections had to be confronted, but eventually a building permit was approved and construction begun in late 1951. The exterior walls and roofs are clad in wooden shingles, main supports are on poles with extensive use of interesting materials such as cobblestones, old recycled bricks and heavy timber. The complex was opened in July 1982 at a cost of around $150,000 and now provides comfortable and pleasing facilities for staff and visitors. Within a few months of opening the complex won the 1982 New Zealand Design Award for Tourist Facilities. The complex is indeed a very new development in Waitomo.
CAVES RESEARCH TO DATE AND THE FUTURE
Over the last eight years several major caves research programs have been undertaken at Waitomo. In summary these include:
- The geochemistry of speleothem formation and the impact of CO2 breathed out by cave visitors (MSc and special studies of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research).
- The hydrology of the Waitomo river catchment as it relates to situation and flooding in the caves at Waitomo (eight year PhD and special studies by the Waikato Valley Authority).
- The ecology of the New Zealand glowworm in caves at Waitomo (five year PhD).
- Lampenflora analysis and control (two year post doctoral research).
- The physical aspects of the glowworm cave climate (two year MSc)
- Preliminary investigation into a fungus that kills glowworms.
- Investigation into the best lighting techniques in relation to human eye response lampenflora growth and heat output (Special paper Auckland University).
- Investigation into the best methods of cave cleaning (DSIR).
These studies were instigated and supervised by the Waitomo Caves Research program. From this program much important information was gained on the physical, chemical and biological aspects of the caves, and recommendations made on how this information could be implemented into everyday management practice. Most of the research was in response to specific cave environmental problems, although there was considerable overlap and interaction. Sometimes in solving one particular problem another was created. For example, the CO2 breathed out by cave visitors was found to be harmful to speleothems, this could be eliminated by enhancing the natural ventilation through modifications to the cave morphology. However, increased air movement removes air moisture and this puts the glowworms at risk. Clearly there are management conflicts and difficult decisions to make. Also obvious is the fact that the restoration of the caves to the pre-development situation of 100 years ago is impossible, nor should this be a management objective.
Management strategies are therefore designed to maintain a physical and ecological resource, and, if necessary, to enhance a working environmental system based on sound scientific principles. In that sense are we not too different from modern agricultural practice? Further research is planned, we need to know more about the ecology of the aquatic insects that make up the food supply of the glowworms. With the removal of the indigenous forest cover and draining of wetlands in the catchment above the caves, there has been extensive modifications to the habitat of these important aquatic insects. New developments like horticulture with its intensive use of insecticides and fertilisers also need our scrutiny. Current caves research not oriented to management needs is also occurring at Waitomo. This includes the paleo-magnetic dating of speleothems, the first time in the Southern Hemisphere. Museum researchers also are making new and exciting discoveries in our caves.
WAITOMO CAVES MANAGEMENT PLAN
As the research findings became known it became apparent that there was a need to see how the various recommendations related to each other and to bring these together in a document which would be a handbook for future caves management, and so the Management Plan was conceived. This plan would also fulfil our obligations under a new 1977 Reserves Act to prepare a Management Plan for Scenic Reserves. The plan also gave us the opportunity to took back on Waitomo Caves over the last 100 years and give us a good historical perspective with which to view the present and future.
In particular the last ten years were examined in detail. The plan also gave us the impetus to update policy on important matters such as the non-cave values of our reserves and non-tourist caves. Management options and long term objectives were also defined.
I hope this paper demonstrates that there has been some important and exciting developments at Waitomo in the last few years.
I would like to thank the Australasian Congress on Cave Tourism and Management for the opportunity at their conferences to publicly declare our achievements, our policies and our aspirations. I hope to see you all in Waitomo sometime.