Thursday, October 21 2010 – Wellington

Forest & Bird media release for immediate use

Labour weekend spotlight on saving the Mokihinui

Forest & Bird is joining with Whitewater NZ over Labour weekend to highlight the threat to the pristine beauty and endangered wildlife of the Mokihinui River from Meridian Energy’s planned hydro dam.
 
State-owned Meridian was granted resource consent in a split decision in April for the dam, which will create a 14-kilometre-long lake, drowning 330 hectares of forest in the biggest ever inundation of New Zealand conservation land.

More than 100 people will be taking part in the weekend event to celebrate the river and highlight the devastation the dam would cause to the unspoilt natural values of the West Coast’s third-largest river.

“The highlight of the weekend will be Sunday’s river trip by the biggest group of people ever to paddle the Mokihinui,” says Forest & Bird’s Top of the South Field Officer Debs Martin.

“This demonstrates the passion so many people have to ensure that the Mokihinui – one of New Zealand’s few remaining wild rivers – should remain protected forever.”

“A dam on this river would have a disastrous effect on the natural environment and also destroy a wild place loved by kayakers, rafters, fishers and trampers.”

Among those on the rafts will be Green Party co-leader Russel Norman and MP Kevin Hague, along with ecologists, film makers, photographers and media. Rafters and kayakers from around New Zealand and overseas will also make the journey, which will climax with the unfurling of a 60-square-metre “Save the Mokihinui”  banner over the river at the dam site.

The river and its surrounding forest support 11 endangered bird species, including kiwi, the western weka and the blue duck (whio), which lives only in fast-flowing rivers. Two unique species of giant land snails and the South Island long-tailed bat also inhabit the forest.

Threatened longfin eels and other native fish will also have their habitats destroyed and migratory routes blocked by the dam.

Forest & Bird and other organisations are appealing the resource consents for Meridian’s dam in the Environment Court.

Meridian has argued the Mokihinui must be dammed to ensure power for the West Coast. But this could be achieved through Hydro Developments Ltd’s alternative scheme to generate power from polluted water from the Stockton mine area, and from another project on the already modified Arnold River. Both of these projects already have resource consents.

The pressure to build new hydro dams can also be relieved through energy conservation measures and using other renewable sources – including solar, wind and geothermal – which have a much lower impact on the environment.

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