Productive Partnerships for Taieri Catchment
Environmental management initiatives that have community support are viewed as the most favourable for both central and local government. The TAIERI Trust is one such example which has already, in its three years running, had positive environmental and social benefits. Gretchen Robertson, co-ordinator of the TAIERI Trust, outlines the elements that have made this initiative successful.
For the past three years a multi-stakeholder project has been operating in Otago’s Taieri catchment. While challenging, the project has had great success in bringing together a highly diverse, and at times traditionally opposing, set of parties. The project’s very simple goal - to improve the health of the Taieri River’s waterways - is being put into practice and already results are evident.
Background – the Problem
The Taieri is New Zealand’s third longest river and flows through one of the most diverse catchments. Although a significant resource and landscape feature, the Taieri is generally a comparatively low volume river, and, like many other waterways in New Zealand, is currently facing both water quantity and quality issues.
The upper Taieri is one of the driest areas of New Zealand (350mm/year annual rainfall). Traditionally it has only supported extensive high-country sheep and beef farming. Today, irrigation is enabling the conversion of dry tussock grassland to some of the country’s largest dairy farms. There are at least five properties in the Maniototo Plain which have converted to dairy, the largest of which carries up to 3000 cattle (i.e. Big Sky Dairy). The impacts of these changes and other forms of intensification have resulted in significant water quantity and quality issues.
In 2001-2002 the Otago Regional Council conducted an extensive water quality monitoring program in the upper Taieri. Results showed that popular swimming holes in the remote Maniototo area downstream of the intensively farmed plain were often unsafe to swim in. This was a shock to the local community who often use the river as a retreat from the intense Central Otago sun. The results also showed that further down from the headwaters through the increasingly intensively farmed Maniototo plain, nutrients, turbidity, bacteria, and suspended solids increased.
Although Otago experienced a drought this year, the effects on water quantity were exacerbated by water takes for irrigation. Whilst some of the reasons for the low flows can be attributed to drought alone, irrigation still occurred at an excessive rate. The Otago Regional Council’s “Regional Plan: Water” became operative on 1 January 2004. This sets minimum flow requirements for the river. These requirements should enable the River to function as a healthy ecosystem and habitat for aquatic fauna. Even so, during the summer in 2003-2004, this requirement was breached for 40 days in the upper Taieri.
Equity issues are often debated in the middle section of the catchment, the Strath Taieri. Water is over-allocated in the upper Taieri and for this reason almost no additional water extraction permits are being issued. This limits large-scale irrigated farming in this area. However, over-wintering of dairy cows from the upper and lower catchment is becoming a common occurrence.
Aerial of the upper Taieri scroll plain wetland (NZ’s only
example)
photo: Neville Peat
The majority of the population reliant on, or adjacent to, the river, is based on the Lower Taieri Plain. Once a large swamp, today almost all of this wetland has been drained and supports very fertile intensive farmland. Major issues identified by the TAIERI Trust in this area include polluted run-off from farms, septic tanks, and urban storm water.
The problems being faced in the catchment were exacerbated by social issues. Little communication or dissemination of information was occurring, leaving all stakeholders feeling frustrated and helpless to reverse negative trends.
The Formation of a Community-Based Project
The ideas behind the formation of the TAIERI Alliance for Information Exchange and River Improvement (TAIERI Trust) started with the research by Dr Margot Parkes in the late 1990’s. Her catchment and community health doctorate drew links between social, physical and environmental health. The methodology encouraged participation from members of the catchment community, researchers, Maori, and resource managers.
In 1999-2000, Dr Parkes held community meetings throughout the catchment and then brought everyone together in a cross-catchment meeting. This enabled participants to discuss the river and its associated issues in a holistic, integrated manner. Community members valued this forum and wanted opportunities to meet together in the future. Key local people were identified to represent the catchment communities within the newly developing TAIERI Trust.
Broadening the participation in the Trust began with the University of Otago. The Taieri is fortunate that its close proximity to the University has meant it is one of the most studied rivers within New Zealand. In the past, research has been conducted with very little interaction with, or even reporting to, the local community. The community saw real advantage in more dialogue with university researchers and initiated a formalised partnership. The TAIERI Trust successfully gained funding through the Ministry for the Environment’s Sustainable Management Fund and has formed a partnership with the New Zealand Landcare Trust.
Involving Everyone in a Non-threatening Environment
The community-based structure of the Trust includes seven Trustees, five of whom are landowners representing different geographic areas of the catchment and two are university professors. This structure allows the catchment communities to have a voice and to participate fully in all decision making and for an ongoing relationship between independent researchers and the community. The overall structure forms the basis of a highly independent project fostering a non-threatening environment for information dissemination and project planning and implementation.
Beyond the Trustees is the Management Group. These people also attend all monthly Trust meetings and assist in developing work plans and responding to issues. The Science, Humanities, and Commerce Departments of the University of Otago, landowners, iwi, the New Zealand Fish and Game Council, the Otago Regional Council, the Department of Conservation, and various community boards/committees are represented. The Trust employs a full time co-ordinator (myself) a role that is essential to the sustainability of the project of this nature.
The Trust also recognises that many other community/agency members have expressed an interest in being involved but are too busy to attend all of our meetings. For this reason, the Trust consciously widens its forum involvement through workshops, field days, and other opportunities to discuss localised issues.
Rewards Already Being Reaped
As well as uniting a diverse set of stakeholders and engaging them in constructive dialogue and the exchange of information, the TAIERI Trust has undertaken many important waterway projects.
Key achievements to date include:
- Developing a successful educational waterway program for local schools. The kit involves a comprehensive set of curriculum-linked activity cards for use in the classroom, a guided field trip to a local waterway, a fun educational video on why people value the Taieri River, and support with action activities to enhance waterway health.
- Co-ordination of riparian restoration activities with local schools, community, and unemployed people.
- Co-ordination and facilitation of successful workshops on riparian restoration and farm-drain management to derive best management practices for implementation.
- Co-ordination of successful natural history field days to highlight the importance and vulnerability of key local ecosystems.
- Development of a map-based information website.
- Compilation of catchment newsletters updating Taieri residents of activities, research and upcoming events.
- Co-ordination of the February 2004 conference “Taieri Waterways: sustaining our lifestyles, livelihoods and living system”. The event gathered together a diverse set of presenters including: scientists, resource management agencies, farmers, foresters, local women, schools, writers, economists, international experts, and Maori.
The TAIERI Trust’s work has been recognised by the Minister for the Environment through the presentation of a “Green Ribbon Award” in 2003 recognising the International Year of Freshwater.
The Future
The TAIERI Trust is committed to working together well into the future moving beyond its initial three year project timeframe of 2001-2004. The strengthened relationships and awareness provided by the project will need to be maintained if wide-scale improvements in waterway health are to be achieved. As project co-ordinator, I believe that healing a river takes time and relies not only on changes in awareness but on the willingness of people to put resources into enhancing the current situation. The community have come so far already and there is a genuine belief that a healthy catchment is not just a “pipe dream”.
The TAIERI Trust is increasingly being used as a model for integrated catchment management approaches in New Zealand and beyond. The project highlights the importance of developing partnerships within a community for attaining effective outcomes in resource management.
One of the drains on the Taieri Plain this summer before it is pumped into the
significant wetland, Lake Waipori.
photo: Gretchen Robertson
Gretchen Robertson
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| Gretchen has a BSc (Hons) in Ecology specialising in aquatic ecology. Previously she has worked at both the Wellington and Otago Regional Councils as a water quality scientist. She enjoys the chance to work with the community and a wide range of other stakeholders to reverse some of the negative impacts that current monitoring is detecting. Gretchen has been in her current role for 2 1/2 years. |
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Contact for Enquiries
Amber Duncalfe
Editor - RM Update
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
PO Box 2526
Wellington
NEW ZEALAND
Tel: +64 4 894 0710
Fax: +64 4 894 0745
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