Land and Water Management Challenges Identified by some Waitekohe sub-catchment landowners

Transcription

1 Land and Water Management Challenges Identified by some Waitekohe sub-catchment landowners 9 August 2011 The following notes were taken during the meeting between landowners in the Waitekohe subcatchment involving Andy McKay and Robyn Skelton from Bay of Plenty Regional Council, and Chris Clark from the Department of Conservation on 9th August The meeting was facilitated by Kaimai Catchments Project coordinator Kate Akers from NZ Landcare Trust. The aim of the meeting was to inform the community about the latest information on the environmental health of their sub-catchment with regards to river water quality, native biodiversity and the condition of their estuary. The meeting s purpose was also to gain the community s feedback about their sub-catchment s land and water management challenges and priorities, and to hear their views about how they would like the various agencies and their community to work together to address these challenges. This feedback is recorded in these minutes. This community feedback will be used to inform the Kaimai Catchments Project, Department of Conservation local strategic planning and Bay of Plenty Regional Council s Catchment Action Plan for the Waitekohe sub-catchment and the Ten Year Plan. Meeting Attendance The meeting was attended by 15 landowners, so the following points are from those attendees. It should be acknowledged that 276 invitations were sent. This reflects the number of land parcels in the catchment. Meeting Process Attendee landowners listed the main land and water management challenges in their sub-catchment and then placed them in common topic groups. They put them in order as a group and then individually voted on what they saw as the most important. Page1

2 Priorities Themes Land & water management challenges # of votes 1 Harbour management Sea lettuce Mangroves Mangroves: control of regrowth Allow swamps to form between land and sea. Natural filters between fresh and salt water 12 2 Erosion Stream bank erosion 8 Erosion of stop banks public and private Thompson s Track contributes to sediment Pine plantation harvesting damage and erosion 3 Pest plants Road verges: blackberry, lophantha, montbrecia, black wattle, gorse and pine seedlings 7 4 Communication, Ownership & Funding Pine forest seeding through native bush Pampas and weeds on stopbanks Weeds not managed blocks, absentee owners, council, railways, e.g. woolly nightshade, ginger, bamboo, gorse etc Support (information and money) needed for management of stream edges on private land Ownership of issues by multi-government departments Management of esplanade strips and other public land 6 5 Water quality Cattle in streams 4 6 Rubbish dumping Stock access across streams Streambank management: rubbish, trees, weeds etc are deposited onto and down stream properties 4 7 Animal Pests Rats and stoats 4 Page2

3 8 Roadside maintenance Upgrade the seal on Thompson s Track 3 9 Water use Conflict for resources, especially water. Horticulture vs Ecology 3 10 River Manager River champion. Single point of focus 3 11 Recreation management 4WD destroying Thompson s Track 2 12 Roading issue Te Mania creek bridge floods danger to SH2 - General Comments from Landowner Attendees Topsoil is slowed down by orchards shelter belts. The delta is slowing up the stream. Mangroves prevent green lettuce from going onto the beach and drying out. When the lettuce remains in the water it suffocates the shellfish. Mangrove encroachment and increasing recreation in the harbour result in high water bird roosts being restricted to just a few sites. This can be problematical for the birds. Chris Clark Biodiversity Programme Manager for DOC (Tauranga) requested that any sightings of cyanide laid on public walking tracks in the Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park. Questions by attendees Q. Are there any rules about compulsory fencing off waterways from stock or do landowners do it voluntarily? A. There is some interpretation of the rules, but it is not compulsory to fence off waterways at present. There are nutrient and erosion issues if stock do go in the waterways. Q. Is the re-vegetation of slips in the Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park mostly affected by rat numbers? A. There are many factors that affect the slips, notwithstanding severe rain events and damage caused by animals such as goats and deer. Q. Are there other ways to control goats in the Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park except hunting? A. No. In addition to ground hunting there are helicopter shoots once a year around the bluffs, especially around Waiorongomai. Any sightings of goats please report to Chris Clark (phone or cclark@doc.govt.nz). Page3

4 Q. What happens to the rotenone in a pond once control has been undertaken to kill koi carp? Is it released into the waterways and then into the harbour? A. No. Native fish are removed prior to the operation (rotenone is toxic to all fish species) and the pond is pumped until the water level is very low before the rotenone is added. Rotenone is a natural plant toxin used for centuries by indigenous people of South-east Asia and South America for the harvesting of fish. Rotenone is recognised as the most environmentally benign of the commonly used fish poisons (piscicides). Rotenone is unstable in the presence of light, heat and oxygen, and breaks down into water soluble, non-toxic products. The persistence in natural waters varies from a few days to a few weeks depending on the season. The half-life of rotenone is longest in the winter persisting up to a few weeks, but in the heat of summer may only decrease to a few hours. Q. Are grass carp the same as koi carp? A. No, they are different species. Grass carp are often used to control weeds in ponds, having first been sterilised so they cannot reproduce. Q. Does DOC use possum trapping blocks as an alternative to 1080 ing the Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park? A. Possum trapping blocks are for possum trappers to trap for fur. They are not a total solution. They only suppress possum numbers because possum numbers are brought down to only about 10% residual trap catch (RTC). DOC is not happy with this high percentage (of possums or any other pest) because they are changing the forest structure. The end result is that the forest will change from coastal tawa, kohekohe forest to an unpalatable forest, characterized by species such as tawa and pepperwood. Kohekohe and kamahi will be replaced by these unpalatable species. DOC currently has no plans to use 1080 in the Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park. DOC encourages possum trappers. Fur prices are currently high so there is good coverage by possum trappers. Q. Bird life is virtually absent in the Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park. A. This is because of predators and the change in vegetation. Predators such as mustelids, will hunt out the nests of birds and feed on the occupants. In the spring the nests are a particularly good source of food as there are often young chicks present, and while the adult birds can fly away, the chicks are bound to the nest. The vegetation cover is changing through seed reduction by seed scavengers such as rats, and the complete loss of some species of plant from the forest due to their palatability to browsing animals such as possums and goats. This affects birds because of the increased competition for food, and the decrease in diverse and favored habitat. Q. What is the definition of a HVES? A. High Value Ecological Site. Ecologists have defined these areas for their habitat value, birdlife and plants (e.g. Aongatete Estuary, and several sites along the Wainui River). Up to 75% funding subsidy is available to landowners with HVES and up to 50% for a non-hves Page4

5 Q. Who manages esplanade reserves? A. Reserves are managed by whoever owns the reserve. In some cases DoC and in others Western Bay of Plenty District Council. Q. The process of District Council creating esplanade strips is creating weed issues. A. Again, the formation of land care groups could be one approach to tackling this issue. The regional council is encouraging Western Bay of Plenty District Council to include funding in their next ten year plan for esplanade management, including weed control where required. Q. Control of pampas is compulsory for Waikato farmers but not in the Bay of Plenty. A. Pampas is classed as a restricted pest plant in Bay of Plenty s Regional Pest Management Plan. It is not compulsory to control pampas. There is assistance available for land care groups who want to control weeds. Q. Why are shellfish numbers declining in the estuaries? A. Fine sediment causes problems for shellfish because it creates anaerobic conditions. In some locations historic over-harvesting may also have contributed to shellfish decline. Q. Are e-coli levels tested in the estuary? A. E-coli is a freshwater indicator so not in the estuary. The Bay of Plenty's more popular swimming sites are monitored from November to March. Samples of water are analysed for faecal indicator bacteria. These bacteria, from warm blooded animals like cows and sheep, can indicate that disease causing organisms (bacteria and viruses) are likely to be in the water. Different indicator bacteria are checked for depending on the site: Enterococci is the indicator bacteria used for marine waters. Escherichia coli (E. coli) is the indicator bacteria used for freshwater monitoring Q. What plants should be used on stopbanks? A. It depends on whether the stopbank is still operational or not. Engineered stopbanks require strong structural integrity to withstand the extremely high hydrological pressure and deep rooted vegetation can compromise this by allowing water down through the root system. In this situation a strong grass cover is desirable with light grazing only. If the stopbank is not used for flood protection ideally it should be removed or modified to allow a more natural water flow to occur. Plant species in this case should be native plants suitable for the geographical and ecological location. Q. Are there any plans for rat and mouse control? After maize and avocado harvests etc there are infestations. Focus on wetland margins for pest control. A. Bay of Plenty Regional Council can assist community-driven land care groups if a good plan is put forward. Control needs to be long-term and regular, or pest numbers will soon return to 100% or higher within a few months. One example is at Athenree where a new group focusing on predator control has just formed. DOC and Western Bay of Plenty District Council have supported it with stoat traps, with good success to date. Page5