Landowners discuss land and water management priorities

For immediate release: 13 June 2011

Rural landowners around Tauranga Harbour are invited to discuss priorities for sustainable land management with Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Department of Conservation over the next two months.

The Regional Council is jointly hosting the meetings with Kaimai Catchment Project partners NZ Landcare Trust and Department of Conservation. Several meetings will be held in sub-catchment locations, and landowners in the Te Manaia sub-catchment near Katikati have already met. The meetings are aimed at rural landowners living within particular sub-catchments.

Land and water management issues include sedimentation, biodiversity loss, water quality, erosion and climate change, Bay of Plenty Regional Council Manager Land Resources (Western) Robyn Skelton said.

"Te Manaia landowners were very interested in our sediment and water quality data. Landowners also expressed concern about contaminants that may be entering the stream, and were keen for the Council to approach and work with landowners to resolve this," she said.

The Regional Council has a Catchment Management Framework in place and is working within each of the 28 sub-catchments around the harbour.

"We have divided these 28 into 17 work areas in our Ten Year Plan and are developing Catchment Action Plans for each. These will identify key priorities in terms of sustainable land management and biodiversity enhancement and protection, so we can prioritise our land management action and resourcing"

Following the meetings, landowner views will be written into Catchment Action Plans - a multi-agency approach to enabling community-led catchment management - and will help with local strategic planning for the Department of Conservation. The findings will also inform the Kaimai Catchments Forum work. Meetings are planned for:

20 June Waiau
28 June Waitekohe
5 July Uretara (Part 1)
13 July Oturu
18 July Uretara (Part 2)
21 July Kopurererua

If you live in these catchments and would like to know more about the meetings, contact the Western Land Management Administrator on 0800 884 880

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