Introducing Doug Stevens
November 07 11:03 AM

AUTHOR: Pete George

Doug Stevens List place: 2 Electorate: Nelson Profile (part):

• Head of Department at Manukau Polytechnic (17 years) responsible for all courses related to providing education for long term unemployed adults.
• Executive Assistant to the Vice Chancellor at Auckland University of Technology.
• Dean of Arts and Humanities at Nelson Marlborough Institution of Technology.

Since leaving the tertiary sector Doug has developed New Zealand’s largest fishing website www.nzfishing.com. This has afforded him the lifestyle of his dreams where he gets to “research” rivers and lakes around the country and indulge his lifelong passion for fly fishing and the outdoors. He is attracted to UnitedFuture because of its strong stance on protecting our outdoor heritage.

Role: Research and writing, sales and marketing Background: After gaining a Masters degree in geography, Doug Stevens trained as a teacher and then followed a career as a senior manager in the New Zealand polytechnic sector. He now works full-time writing for nzfishing.com about trout fishing opportunities and about environmental issues such as access and water quality that affect angers.

Here are some snippets I got from the web:

Doug is one of the driving forces behind the regrowth of UnitedFuture. There is a very good chance he will become an MP this election, which will be good reward for his hard work and determinatiion, and it will also be good reward for the support of many outdoor enthusiasts, including hunters and fisherfolk. He has set up and runs a very popular website New Zealand Trout & Salmon Fly Fishing

 

Hooked on Fly Fishing: talks to Doug Stevens and Doug Stevens on Exclusive Capture. A Salient comment:

I thought this was a very good interview. What I would like to add is that although UnitedFuture can be described as conservative it is the very nature of some of these conservative policies that are in fact quite radical. By wanting the country to take a conservative approach to the environment for instance, it will be attacking those that wish to change our landscape and environment for the worse. I urge all young people to look at the UnitedFuture policies about the outdoors and our environment – they will see that they are sound and in fact designed to protect New Zealand for the future. In many ways they out-green the Greens and are worthy of consideration.

It amazes me that in a country that claims to be clean and green, only one party in Parliament is opposing the indiscriminate spreading of 1080 across our countryside. Many people took great comfort in the Parliamentary Commissioner’s report that 1080 was a wonderful and noble poison. Not only was it apparently safe for humans, it was a great means to kill pests while protecting our native birds and forests. We need more of it, the commissioner exclaimed to the delight of the pro-1080 lobby. Recently, however, I was fishing on the Tongariro River and came across a sign that put paid to the idea that 1080 is safe. With a prominent skull and crossbones, it said 1080 had been dropped in the area and in huge red letters warned people “not to touch baits”, “WATCH CHILDREN at all times” and not to eat animals from the area....

 

VUTC: Duck shooting season - 1080 drop

“It seems that the whole 1080 industry, whether it is the Animal Health Board, regional councils or private contractors, feel no responsibility to other New Zealanders who value these areas for the outdoor opportunities they afford,” said Doug Stevens, UnitedFuture spokesperson for the environment and outdoor recreation. “Many people travel a long way to fish and shoot around this lake and will be horrified to learn that 1080 has been dropped within the watershed”, Mr Stevens added.

 

Letter to Advocates for the Tongariro River: The High Cost of Doing Nothing

Are we in New Zealand prepared to let our world famous and universally envied egalitarian fishing access die as we utter the words, “Oh she’ll be right”? Because if we do not do something, and soon, we will see New Zealand loose what we take for granted – our freedom of access to our lakes and rivers. We owe it to our far-sighted forefathers who fought for the rights of all New Zealanders to freely access freshwater fishing and game animals. We also owe it to the future generations that we preserve this uniquely Kiwi way of life. The cost of doing nothing is much too high.

 

Submission on an application for an amendment to the Kawarau River Water Conservation Order

As a New Zealander who loves our outdoors as well as a tourism operator who depends upon New Zealand's reputation as providing the best trout fishing anywhere, I cannot support the destroying of the Nevis River as a fishery. This high country resource is one that we should treasure, not just for our generation but for all future generations. To set up a hydro scheme on this pristine high country river would be environmental vandalism and one that when the folly of our actions is discovered cannot be repaired. This river has a unique place in our ecosystem and needs full protection.

I agree fully with the need to protect the Nevis River, not just because it's in my old home territory.

 

Federated Farmers complementary accord a joke

“Are we going to sit back and allow one section of the community to destroy our outdoor heritage because they may have to change how they operate to do so?” “Surely if farmers were so concerned about protecting the Manawatū River they would not wish to see cows adding to the rivers problems,” said Doug Stevens, UnitedFuture spokesperson on the environment and outdoor recreation. “Rivers are publicly owned and available resources,” said Mr Stevens. “Any group that does not take action to preserve them is stealing our heritage both from this and future generations.”

 

Response to: Vertebrate predators – an ethical dilemma

Well done Mike, This is a well reasoned argument and one that I agree with. The PCE did a lot of harm with her reporting on the wonders of 1080 and did not present all the cfacts. I read that when DoC set ot to eradicate pests on kapiti Island they found that the 1080 drop killed 1,500 possums but trapping killed and accounted for 20,000. There are alternatives and as you point out most 1080 is not being dropped in inaccessible areas but around farmland by the AHB. I am also interested in your comments about how to control TB in cattle.

 

Federated Mountain Clubs of New Zealand

United Future environment and outdoor recreation spokesperson – Doug Stevens

Outdoor heritage is central to New Zealand identity and a birthright. United Future was opposed to wild river destruction, and would set in place a moratorium on this for the next decade, strengthen and where necessary reinstate water conservation orders. Wilderness should be just that -- free from helicopters and jetboats. United Future is absolutely opposed to heli-hunting on the DOC estate; it was not sport, not hunting, and should have no place in this country. Fishing access -- he had a list of 38 rivers where landowners were locking up access. United Future does not want these de facto privatised, does not support roam at will, but does have a policy of public access to public resources -- lakes, beaches, rivers, mountains, &c. Will be seeking as part of a coalition agreement a stronger Walking Access Commission. Would ban 1080: there are some areas where possum and pest control can be better done by land based methods, and would be selecting areas in which to trial these alternatives.

 

 

Despite being largely ignored by media so far Doug has been active online for some time. He will be a strong advocate for outdoors and environmental issues should he be elected.

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