Land Use Rules in Taupo Jon Palmer & Megan Coup

Transcription

1 Land Use Rules in Taupo Jon Palmer & Megan Coup

2 Hello I am Jon Palmer I am Megan Coup and This is the Lake Taupo catchment

3 Nitrogen Leaching 101 Nitrate leaching = loss of N down through soil into groundwater and eventually to surface water Decline in water quality Measured kg N/ha/yr Greater N leaching in well drained soil (pumice)

4 OVERSEER Overseer models and predicts nutrient cycling of agricultural systems, including nitrogen leaching Inputs into the model include stock, fertiliser, cropping

5 Some history... Nitrogen Loads to Lake Taupo tonnes per year Predevelopment Current High dairy Rainfall Undeveloped & pine Sewage/urban TPD Sheep & beef Dairy

6 Increasing nitrogen loading - threats Due to land use dairy has higher loading per stock unit than dry-stock farming Pumice soils are not susceptible to pugging so are great for dairy farming and to winter cows on Increasing farming intensity to offset increasing costs

7 Taupo District Output 1998 Tourism Forestry & Logging Ownership of Owner - Occupied Household Consumption Electricity Generation Wood & Wood Products Construction Wholesale & Retail Trade * Central Government Services Real Estate Health & Community Services Education Accommodation, Rest & Cafes * Business Services Finance Sheep, Beef & Mixed Livestock * Domestic only (i.e. no tourism) Value Added (millions)

8 Reducing and Capping Nitrogen REDUCING: Permanent removal of 20% (176 tonnes) of the manageable nitrogen load (purchased by the Lake Taupo Protection Trust using $80M public fund) CAPPING: Rules for nitrogen leaching activities Urban, 7% Pastoral, 93%

9 The Rules Controlled Activity Rule Nitrogen Leaching Farming Activities Where leaching exceeds 8kg N/ha/year, resource consent is required to farm Approximately 80 consented farms in catchment (mainly sheep and beef) These properties have been benchmarked to determine their cap

10 Benchmarking Setting the cap For the years 2001 to 2005 WRC modelled actual farm data using Overseer. Auditable farm data only proof of stocking levels, fertiliser applied, fodder cropping, supplements All large farms (50+ ha) were modelled Year of highest nitrogen leaching = cap

11 Benchmarking Completed Average NDA 17 Average drystock 16 Average dairy 35.5 (kg N/ha/yr) Range from 6 to 55 Average stocking 14.5 su/ha

12 The Rules - Permitted Activity Rule Low Nitrogen Leaching Farming Activities Permitted activity for properties to leach 8kg N/ha/year or below Approximately 400 PA properties in catchment (mainly lifestyle blocks) Currently developing PA monitoring programme (incident response)

13 Resource Consent conditions Nitrogen cap specified (Overseer Version 5.4.3) Nitrogen Management Plan (NMP) detailing farming regime for the year and how this complies with nitrogen allowance (Overseer) Farmers must notify WRC of changes to farming regime Farmers must provide monitoring data on request

14 Monitoring Priority of farm determines monitoring frequency (Priority 1 = N sold or farming within 10% of cap) RETROSPECTIVE monitor previous financial year Request farm data annual accounts, proof of stocking levels, fertiliser, cropping, supplements... Processes checked by Audit NZ to ensure robustness, so all data must be auditable

15 How we monitor Construct stock reconciliation Compare stock levels and other farm data with NMP If discrepancies exist, enter into Overseer Determine if total N leaching is compliant with cap ALSO: Site visits (stocking, cropping) and inspections (tree planting)

16 Monitoring so far /2012 year = monitored 21 farms All achieved full compliance or high level of compliance 2012/2013 year = monitoring 49 farms Efficiencies over time streamline monitoring process

17 Monitoring Challenges Farmers need to compile detailed records and provide to council WRC reliant on data from farmers and accountants who may not be familiar with such complex regimes Assumptions made for Overseer Creating stock reconciliation = time consuming Inside and outside catchment farms

18 Successes WRC have implemented the first rules controlling non-point source pollution from farming in NZ Forged great working relationships with farmers in the catchment The annual N load entering Lake Taupo is now more than 150 tonnes less than levels

19 Lessons Learned Officers need good understanding of farming systems Land-use Rules are a new thing = patience and understanding required to guide farmers through the process Education about rules and compliance is a must Taupo rules and processes were initially heavily reliant on staff resources and administration requirements - less so during monitoring phase

20 Thoughts for the future Processes need to be streamlined to save time and money for both consent holders and ratepayers Rules controlling the impact of farming on the environment are required in sensitive and/or significant catchments. Education alone is unlikely to be sufficiently effective

21 Questions?