26 November 2018
NORTHLAND
REGIONAL COUNCIL
Minutes
of the Mangere Catchment Group workshop
held at
Kokopu School, Whangarei on Monday 26 November 2018
Commencing
at 6:30pm
|
Group members and regular attendees
Present:
Shayne O’Shea Dairy
Farming
Susan Karels Lifestyle
In Attendance:
John Ballinger Northland
Regional Council
Apologies:
Joce Yeoman NRC
Councillor
Sharon Morgan Whangārei
District Councillor
Royce Kokich Dairy
Farming
Chris Frost Horticulture
Helen Moodie DairyNZ
Roger Holder Dairy
Farming
Tania Pene Te
Rūnanga Ā Iwi O Ngāpuhi
Hona Edwards Te
Uriroroi
Finnisha Turiwai-Birchall Te
Parawhau
Due to the low turnout, final decisions on
the items listed in the agenda could not be made. John to prepare supporting
information for each item and email to group participants. Group participants
to read material and rank their preferred actions (1-5) listed under Item 3
before the next catchment meeting in February 2019.
Item 1: Apologies and
welcome
The apologies were received.
Item 2: Where’s your
Wai?
John showed Shayne and Susan the councils app “Where’s your
Wai?”, and encouraged them to log any freshwater sites that have
significance to them.
Item 3: Implementation of
nonregulatory actions
There remains a balance of $8,561 (excluding GST) to be spent by 30th
June 2019 on the implementation of non-regulatory actions as listed in the
Mangere Catchment Plan. John put forward some potential ideas which were
discussed below:
Planting days.
- Would
like to organise 2-3 planting days for next season involving Enviroschools
(Kokopu School, Maungatapere School, Comrie Park Kindergarten and Matarau
School).
- Ideally
1 school per planting day, with 500 plants per site. Free plants to be
sourced from Te Arai Nursery. John to order.
- Next
site Kevin and Patricia Sidwell (Dairy). Whole group need to find a
drystock site, and a horticulture or lifestyle site. Landowners to
undertake site preparation and releasing.
- BBQ
and bus to be booked for each planting day.
- John
to follow up with Judith Gatenby and Michael Waymouth (previous planting
day with Kokopu School) to see how plants are faring. Kokopu School may
return to undertake plant releasing.
Signage
- General
support for signage to be erected at properties (with landowner approval)
indicating the planting work was carried out by the Mangere Catchment
Group and Enviroshools initiatives.
- Indicative
cost per sign is $126 + GST, not including mounting material.
- John/Susan to
prepare a sign template for the group to review at next meeting.
SHMAK kit
- This
kit enables non-scientists and schools to collect consistent,
scientifically valid information from small rural streams and to use that
information to make assessments of stream health.
- NRC
has kits that schools can borrow, but it might be better if each school
had its own kit.
- The
complete kit (including manual) costs $495 + GST. One for each school
would cost $1,980 + GST. Price including GST = $2,277.
- Before
purchasing, would want to ensure the kits will be regularly used by the
schools.
Elver transfer
- In
the previous meeting the group had voiced a desire to help support the
eel/tuna (elver) transfer from below Wairua Falls to the upper catchment,
now undertaken by Finnisha Turiwai-Birchall.
- John
to contact Finnisha to see whether transfers are still taking place, and
if so, how the catchment group might help.
Summer event
- Shayne
and Susan were interested in developing a summer event to celebrate the
river. Such an event might involve a hike and BBQ in the Pukenui Forest
(headwaters of the Mangere), or a photographic workshop.
- Another
idea is a cultural ‘story time’ event with Māori and
Pakeha stories/experiences relating to the river and local area. This
could be supplemented with a scientific description of the landscape
(soils, vegetation, hydrology etc) by a local expert e.g. Bob Cathcart.
Poplars/willows for erosion control
- Shayne
and Susan keen to target erosion prone land in the catchment. NRC provides
free poplar and willow poles from the council nursery for the purposes of
soil conservation and erosion control in the greater Kaipara Catchment.
- John
said there were between 20-25 farm plans completed by NRC for properties
within the catchment to date. The farm plan process is used by NRC to
identify areas requiring planting for erosion control. This is a free
service.
Item 4: Frequency
of meetings
- Decide to hold quarterly
meetings.
- Dates are 2nd
Monday of February, May, August, November.
- John to send invites via
Outlook, and reminders via text and email.
Actions:
a)
Whole group to network and send
suggested planting site ideas to John in the next week. Looking for high
profile sites that are already fenced on Kara Road and / or life style blocks
and / or sheep and beef farmers.
b)
John/Susan to investigate design
of a sign combining all collaborators e.g. Mangere Catchment Group, NRC,
Enviroschools.
c)
John to contact Finnisha to see
whether elver transfers are still taking place, and if so, how the catchment
group might help.
d)
John to follow up with Judith
Gatenby and Michael Waymouth (previous planting day with Kokopu School) to see
how plants are faring.
Meeting closed at 19:15