Waipoua River 20130219.pdf - Northland Regional Council

evidence that the causeway on Waipoua River Road is restricting fish passage (O’Brien2012) and Dwersteg (2007) detected elevated nutrient levels, which were thought to possiblybe from fertiliser use, however, the accuracy of the results are questionable.There is currently one resource consent for forestry operations in the catchment(CON20060689402), which includes consent for earthworks, discharge of stormwater to landand a water permit for the diversion of stormwater. Monitoring in 2004 and 2012 showed thatoperations were fully compliant with consent conditions. Monitoring comments included“Roading sink holes in place to trap sediment runoff and prevent erosion. Good managementpractices being undertaken, resulting in minimal adverse effects.” and “The earthworksassociated with the harvesting operation were minimal.”In addition to resource consents, the RWSP has a number of controls on harvestingoperations including controls on earthworks and the disturbance of riparian margins ofstreams and rivers, riparian setbacks, and discharge rules. In partnership with the RMAForestry Development Group, Northland Regional Council have developed guidelines forplantation forestry (NRC 2012). The intent of the document is to provide the forestry industry(including contractors operating under permitted activity and/or a resource consent) with adocument to help with undertaking operations by providing examples of best practice tocontrol and reduce sediment runoff. In addition, Northland Regional Council is working withforestry managers to promote and train forestry operators in the use of the guidelines.4.2 Development4.2.1 Land use changeAs discussed above, the current pressures from pastoral land use and forestry in the‘Outstanding river’ part of the catchment are likely to be less than minor. However, this couldchange if there is development to a more intensive land use, such as subdivisiondevelopment and/or intensive pastoral farming, such as dairy production, in the small areaoutside of the Waipoua Forest.Run-off from pastoral land can potentially contain nutrients, sediments, faecal pathogens,and also heavy metals. Nitrogen compounds and faecal pathogens can also leach throughsoil to water bodies, including groundwater. Diffuse sources include, but are not limited to,stream banks and other erosion prone land, stock access to the beds and riparian marginsof waterways, general grazing of animals, and fertilisers.4.2.2 Roading and trafficTraffic over the Waipoua River on SH12 is currently in the region of 400 vehicles per day onaverage with it steadily increasing between 2006 and 2010 (Table 12). This is likely tocontinue to increase, especially given that the Waipoua Forest has been identified as astrategic site for Northland’s tourism industry (DOC 2011), SH12 is part of the ‘Twin CoastDiscovery’ tourist route identified in the Transport Strategy (NRC 2010) and it is possible thatthis area will become a National Park (see below).35