7 May 2020
Waitangi Catchment Group Record of Actions
Meeting held in the Zoom
on Thursday 7 May 2020, commencing at 7pm
Present:
NRC Councillor Marty Robinson
NRC Councillor Joce Yeoman
NRC Jenny Gillanders
Waimate North Landcare Trust, Darryl Way
Cawthron Institute, Jim Sinner
Cawthron Institute, Marc Tadaki
Hapu, Rio Greening
Hapu, Ngati Kawa Taituha
Hapu, Arnold Maunsell
Hapu, Hirini Tane
Hapu, Albie Apiata
Dairy NZ, Electra Kalaugher
Sustainable Coastlines, Sam Judd
The meeting commenced at 7pm
Apologies (Item 1.0)
Terence Brocx
1. Update from Ko Waitangi Te Awa Trust - Ngati Kawa
Registered in December, have trustees and officers. Deed is to cover the catchment but also extends out to Taitokerau. Objectives are Environmental restoration, education and employment. Sam Judd is interim CEO. Richard Higgins of Bay College is keen to work with the trust. Also talking with Whitebait Connection.
$10k of funding was for planting day on Matariki. COVID has disrupted that plan but still waiting to see what happens with alert levels. Initial site was to be above Haruru Falls at Watea subdivision site. But there is already a resource consent that requires them to plant that site, so looking at other options. On northern side of river is public land, only two titles. Need to talk with FNDC and DOC. Have spoken to Mack Lynn from Wakelins Station re access – he is supportive of project. He has other areas that would benefit from planting.
Dates to be confirmed. Ideally before end of financial year but might carry on further.
Hone presented draft plan for three main activities.
· Logo competition – with schools, to get some profile for Trust
· Monitoring – when out of lockdown, want to get schools involved in logo competition and get them to marae for monitoring workshop with Whitebait Connection, using SHMAK kit, also with tikanga Māori
· Planting along river – see above, need planting plan etc, need to clear the land before it can be planted by schools
Hone confirmed the plan includes Health & Safety and people with First Aid tickets, toilets etc.
Electra noted that there is a free online planner available https://www.dairynz.co.nz/environment/waterways/riparian-planner/
Sam presented a proposal (Te Mahere Whakauka) that he and others are submitting to Government for ‘shovel-ready’ spending, would put Waitangi at top of the list if they get some funding. Capacity building for up to 32 hapū-based organisations, based on model from Pīnui catchment.
He has seedlings available at cost (40c/stem) from nursery at an Auckland prison. Sustainable Coastlines is also developing guidelines on how they will operate under COVID Alert levels – happy to share with the trust or others. Wants to acknowledge Waitangi Catchment Group for their work on getting ready for projects such as this, including support from Duncan K and others from NRC, who has also identified other possible sources of funding.
Would like formal endorsement of the Te Mahere Whakauka project from this catchment group and from NRC.
Rio and possibly others are considering providing endorsement videos
Marty suggested that if we need to get planting done by 30 June, could talk to Watea development and offer to plant there if they would pay for planting at next site.
Albie supported the proposal from Sam - Te Mahere Whakauka.
2. Update from Jenny (NRC) re proposed farmer field day
Was to be associated with planting day. At Level 2, max gathering would be 100 people, so would be difficult for us to run the event under that level. So probably would be better to postpone. Will check about need to pay funding out by 30 June – maybe can prepay invoices. Suggested that Trust go ahead with planning for planting day, and NRC will figure out a date for field day when we get indication of when we might go to Level 1.
Sam suggested that we also need to think about whether people will want to go to a large event, even if allowed. Smaller groups might be more viable, spread over several days.
3. Jim Sinner (Cawthron institute) information on existing land care groups in the Waitangi Catchment
Jim presented information he has collated from Trina Upperton re Waimate North Landcare Trust and from Hone re Lake Omāpere Trust.
Hone added that they recently got green light from DHB to confirm that lake water is safe to go to Kaikohe, on a temporary basis. Some concerns about certain land use activities so wants to be involved with farm plans.
Jenny said there are some smaller groups working with NRC biosecurity team, some have more than pest control as objectives. Can invite them
Ngati Kawa – another Trust, has a contractor doing pest control in Waitangi forest at back of forest & Wakelins. Working with Kiwi Coast. Looking at extending up the river and over the other side, to other tribal lands and territories.
Another group, Bay Bush Action, got some funds via cruise ships to do trapping etc. Sam – says the group helped in developing a restoration guide; happy to circulate that guide to the group.
Bay Bush Action: Stella Kake, stella_kake@yahoo.com. Craig Salmon 021 412 741 https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-salmon-29ba8b1/
Daryl – Hupara Landcare Group are active on pest control.
Joce – There's a massive amount happening with community groups supported by NRC through Mid-North High Value pest control. Not sure where the synergies will be but contact Andrew Mentor Kiwi Coast co-ordinator for that. Waitangi Liaison Group was merged with the Waitangi Catchment Group.
Marty – keen to get a sub-catchment group going in his area. Still discussions underway to see how it might work, maybe start with monitoring.
4. Lake update – Hone
Te Mana o Te Wai project, still 2 milestones to go, including presentation to community about monitoring strategy and website. Other is visit to NIWA (Paul Champion) to talk about strategy for oxygen weed, which has come back. Don’t want 30,000 carp like last time, but maybe enough to ‘mow the lawns’ and keep weeds under control and stabilise the lakebed. This will link in to PGF proposal for next steps, where Lake would be a ‘header tank’ for water storage, by raising the lake level. Next phase will be to build on monitoring data they now have, keep monitoring going and work with landowners to address issues. Want input from lots of people, could look at land use change eg to kiwifruit but that brings in pesticide issues, so need to consider from all sides.
Could be a basis for a management plan for the Waitangi catchment, issues are similar and objectives and strategies are the same. Sam noted that their proposal included that project developers should work with hapū etc from beginning to get appropriate mitigation and local employment. Can we share models of best practice? How many hectares of planting might offset x cubic metres of soil being used, and how can this be converted to funding for these local entities?
5. Support for Sam’s proposal
Rio – can we give a letter of support to Sam for his proposal?
Daryl suggested that someone draft a resolution and send it around by email to get responses, so everyone can see clearly what they are supporting. This was agreed.
Sam said they would like a short video of someone eg Rio voicing the group’s support, in addition to the letter.
6. Other business
NRC and Sam Judd have put the Ko Waitangi Te Awa Trust forward as a shovel-ready project to Government. However, the project still needs work on appropriate plants and spacing. Rio noted that he has a NIWA booklet with guidance that could be used. Sam says their restoration guide done by Sharmane Bailey (sp?) would be very useful for this; he would welcome feedback on this.
Hone suggested extending the Lake Omāpere model to the Waitangi catchment, e.g. the monitoring strategy. Eg break into the four sub-catchments and have a monitoring programme for each. Sam agreed that it would be good to use consistent measures of success across the entire catchment.
Ngati Kawa – asked for update from Jim re his research. Jim said that they were still planning to convene a forum of reps from four case study catchments (one land user and one tangata whenua from each). Somewhat delayed but still hoping to meet this winter, maybe online if necessary. Focus is on action at sub catchment scales by adjacent landowners working together, like Marty is trying to get started in his area.
Hone asked for update on funding that came via Trust for EnviroSchools. Jenny said that none of the schools have plants available yet, probably not until next planting season. She will include in notes from this meeting a report on progress by each school. Sam noted that there are plenty of seedlings available – contact him asap if you need any.
7. Planning the next hui.
Marty suggested that the group should consider planning for a planting day in spring.
Next meeting Thursday 4 June, 7pm (or maybe earlier if can meet in person, with some food).
The meeting concluded at 8.30pm