Recent visitors to Lake Tekapo said they believed stacking rocks was part of a local custom.
Photo: Karen Jiang

Lake Tekapo locals want to ban visitors from stacking rocks on the foreshore due to concerns about their impact on the natural ecosystem.

However, experts are somewhat divided over whether the structures are harming the environment.

Alison Parish, a photographer based in Christchurch, traveled to Lake Tekapo with her husband in April and was surprised by the number of upright rock formations that had been erected along the foreshore.

“I said to my husband at the time how messy they made the waterfront look,” Parish said. “They weren’t there at the end of last year when we last visited.”

Parish had previously observed similar stacks of rocks at Fantail Falls in Mount Aspiring National Park.

She believed the formations were diminishing the beauty of New Zealand’s landscapes and posed a risk to local ecosystems.

“Why do tourists feel the need to erect them?” she said.

“To me, they detract from the beauty of the place, as well as ruin the natural environment for native wildlife such as insects and birds – particularly at Lake Tekapo, where the black stilt is known to feed along the lake’s edge.”

Parish said the practice should be banned and signage installed to discourage it.

“Surely the beauty of Lake Tekapo with its blue coloring and mountains in the background is enough for a memory or a photo,” she said.

“Why build something like this? It’s just ridiculous and ruins it for others,” she said.

“We claim to be a clean, green [country], yet these [rock piles] look nothing but messy, manmade and unnatural.”

Sharon Heatherbell, a Christchurch resident and former Mackenzie Basin local, echoed Parish’s concerns.

Heatherbell lived in the region for five and a half years, often hiking in the bush and photographing native birds and plants.

She criticized visitors who stacked stones as a recreational activity, arguing that it misrepresented the original purpose of such formations, which historically have been used to serve as navigation markers in remote areas.

“Stacking is the making of a proper cairn to mark a track point,” she said. “They have a purpose.”

Heatherbell expressed concern about the ecological impact of stacking rocks on top of each other in a pile.

“To [stack stones] along a foreshore in an area where we have rare birds and plants is destructive to the environment,” she said.

“It’s straight-out pure environmental vandalism. It’s the equivalent of someone going there with a spray can and spray painting the lake edge.”

Heatherbell said the rock structures should be banned nationwide, except where cairns are used to mark trails.

“The rule in New Zealand is ‘Take only photographs, leave only footprints’,” she said.

Some locals have been calling for visitors to refrain from stacking stones along Lake Tekapo’s rocky foreshore, citing concerns about its impact on the ecosystem.
Photo: Karen Jiang

Copycat visitors

The stone-stacking debate has also sparked discussion among tourists.

Several recent visitors to Lake Tekapo believed that stacking rocks was a local tradition.

Deheng Peng, a visitor from the southeastern Chinese city of Shenzhen who traveled to New Zealand in April, said he followed other tourists in building a small rocky mound on the foreshore near the Church of the Good Shepherd, thinking it was part of a local custom.

“When we visited, we saw a few tourists stacking rocks just in front of the church,” Peng said. “We thought it was some kind of custom in Western cultures, maybe something to do with praying, so we built a small pile to pray.

“There were already a huge number of rock piles there when we arrived, which made us believe even more that it was some kind of tradition.”

Peng did not believe that stacking stones was problematic but would support a ban if local communities objected.

“We should respect and follow local customs when traveling overseas,” he said.

“I agree that indigenous culture and their way of life shouldn’t be affected by tourists,” he said. “Local values and perspectives should be respected.”

Karen Jiang, a visitor from Australia who also traveled to Lake Tekapo in April, also believed that stacking stones was part of local culture.

“When we got to the foreshore, we saw a lot of stone towers there, which was quite mind-blowing,” Jiang said. “[But] we thought it was a local tradition, so we also created two small piles.”

Jiang said she was familiar with mounds of rocks used for prayer in Tibet, which further encouraged her to build the structures at Lake Tekapo.

She said clearer signage could help guide tourist behavior if stacking stones was harmful to the environment.

“I saw a sign saying, ‘No drone flying’ by the lake but I didn’t see anything about stacking stones,” she said.

“If the practice really affects the local ecosystem, it definitely shouldn’t continue,” she said.

“There should be a warning sign, otherwise many tourists might think it’s fun and just keep doing it.”

Recent visitors to Lake Tekapo said they believed that locals stacked stones as part of a local tradition.
Photo: Alison Parish

Few practical solutions

Chris Clarke, general manager of information, engagement and community development at the Mackenzie District Council, said stacking stones was not unique to Lake Tekapo and had been observed in other locations nationwide.

He described the practice as a social media-driven fad, often fueled by Instagram, and said such trends typically faded over time.

He expected the same to happen at Lake Tekapo.

Clarke said the council did not currently have a formal position on stacking stones at Lake Tekapo.

He said Environment Canterbury (ECan) had assessed the issue and found no ecological concerns.

“We understand that ECan has indicated there is no ecological or environmental impact, and so there are no concerns from that perspective,” Clarke said.

“Given that ECan has ruled out ecological concerns, the objections would seem to relate to the aesthetics, which is very much a matter of personal opinion.”

Clarke said Lake Tekapo is a hydro lake used for power generation, and its water levels regularly rose and fell due to rainfall, snowmelt and water usage.

He said the constant movement of water naturally shifted stones on the foreshore over time.

Clarke said the council didn’t see a practical solution for addressing the issue of the rocky formations effectively at Lake Tekapo, including the use of warning signs, which many have suggested.

“Signs are unlikely to be effective,” Clarke said. “It could be argued they would damage the lake view as much – if not more – than the behavior they’re trying to discourage.”

“Enforcement would also be challenging,” he said. “We don’t have the resources to do this, and I don’t think the majority of our ratepayers would consider this a sensible use of public funds.”

A spokesperson for ECan said the council did not consider the structures to be a major concern at Lake Tekapo but encouraged visitors to leave the landscape as they found it.

‘Unintended impacts’

Jo Monks, a conservation biologist and senior lecturer at the University of Otago, said she did not have specific ecological concerns about the rock structures at Lake Tekapo.

“I don’t know of animals that are using the rocks [there], but I think it’s definitely worth being mindful,” she said.

She said people should avoid stacking piles of rocks in areas where reptiles rely on rocks for shelter.

“In places where lizards and other native animals use rocks as essential resources for shelter, the building of rock piles should be done thoughtfully – and only for essential navigation on routes,” she said.

Even when used as route markers, Monks said, upright rock structures should be erected sparingly and with care.

Jennifer Schori, senior biodiversity ranger for the Department of Conservation, said the rock structures were not on public conservation land and were not directly affecting protected or endangered wildlife.

However, she said the Tekapo lakeshore was home to several threatened species and should not be disturbed.

“There are critically endangered herbs, such as the uniquely named New Zealand fish guts plant, around the shoreline, and the mudflats are an important feeding ground for a number of threatened bird species,” she said.

“Moving rocks anywhere in the natural environment can have unintended impacts on an ecosystem,” she said.

“We would like to promote the values of kaitiaki [to visitors] – caring for the land, leaving minimal trace, and not disturbing nature and the environment.”