Waipoua River 20130219.pdf - Northland Regional Council

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1 Introduction1.1 BackgroundThe Waipoua River is located approximately 55 km North of Dargaville on the West Coast ofNorthland. The Waipoua area, including the River and the Waipoua Forest, has high cultural,recreational, ecological and environmental values. It is also has great economic importanceto the Northland Region, as a major tourist destination. The River is one of the most pristinerivers in Northland, with excellent water quality and high conservation and ecological value.For these reasons the Northland Regional Council (NRC) identified the Waipoua River asone of several priority catchments for the Northland Water Programme.1.2 Purpose of this documentThe main purposes of this document are to:1. provide an up-to-date overview of river water quality and quantity and the use andvalues associated with the River2. identify knowledge gaps that will be required to be addressed in order to bettermanage pressures on the River and its catchment and better allocate resources.This document will inform the Northland Water Programme.1.2.1 Northland WaterNorthland Water is a programme for improving the management of water quality andquantity across the region. It brings together and coordinates a number of NorthlandRegional Council’s water management responsibilities, including its programme forimplementing the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2011 (NPS).The NPS requires Northland Regional Council to establish freshwater objectives and setassociated water quality and quantity limits for every stream, river, lake, wetland, and aquiferacross the region. It then requires Northland Regional Council to implement regulatory andnon-regulatory actions to achieve the freshwater objectives.Northland Regional Council has committed to an approach that involves setting acombination of specific limits in priority catchments and region-wide interim and/or defaultlimits for other freshwaters. Northland Regional Council is also aware of the strongcorrelation between freshwater and coastal water in Northland, especially given that all ofregion’s major river systems drain to estuaries and harbours. The proposed Regional PolicyStatement for Northland, notified in October 2012, establishes a framework for the integratedmanagement of fresh and coastal waters, including by identifying a number of regulatory andnon-regulatory actions to be implemented by Northland Regional Council.Actions include policies, regulations, and incentives. Achieving objectives is also dependenton a good deal of landowner and community commitment. Robust information is critical tothe limits setting process and very important to assess the on-going achievement offreshwater objectives.6
Northland Regional Council identified the Waipoua River as one of several prioritycatchments for establishing catchment specific freshwater objectives and freshwater qualityand quantity limits.1.3 Document structureThis document is structured as follows:Section 2 provides an overview of the river and its catchment, including informationabout its related uses and values. It also outlines the current policy framework formanaging activities that can have an impact on the river and its catchment.Section 3 describes the quality and quantity of water in the river, the river ecosystemand freshwater biodiversity, and identifies information gaps.Section 4 identifies known and likely pressures on the River and its catchment. Thissection also identifies information gaps.Generally speaking, this document has been prepared for a wide audience. Wheneverpossible, technical details and background information has been minimised but some is stillrequired.2 The Waipoua River and catchment2.1 OverviewLike many of Northland’s rivers, Waipoua River is relatively short. However, unlike most ofNorthlands rivers (which usually discharge to harbours) Waipoua flows into open sea on theWest Coast. The headwaters of the Waipoua River are in the Parataiko Range andMataraua Plateau, at about 650 metres above sea level (masl), near Tutamoe. From here itflows west, under SH12 (about 100 masl), past Waipoua Forest Visitor Centre and WaipouaSettlement, before discharging to the West Coast, approximately 10 kilometres north ofManganui Bluff.The Waipoua River is the boundary between the Kaipara and Far North District Councils.The entire catchment is within the rohe of Te Roroa and Waipoua Forest has been identifiedas the heart of their Rohe (Te Roroa Manawhenua Trust 2009).The River is named after the Poua, a large pipi that tastes like a toheroa (Harris undated).The total catchment area of the Waipoua River is approximately 11,160 Ha. Part of theWaipoua River is classified as an ‘Outstanding river’ in the Regional Water and Soil Plan(RWSP) (Figure 1). The ‘Outstanding river’ part of the catchment basically includes all of thecatchment upstream of SH12 and Waikohatu Stream. Approximately 70% (7,790 ha) of thewhole catchment is within the area identified as an ‘Outstanding river’. The majority of thisarea is within the Waipoua Forest (ie, has indigenous forest land cover), except for somesmall areas of pasture in the headwaters.In Waipoua Forest, the average air temperature is 14.2°C with average monthlytemperatures ranging from 10.2°C in July to 18.2°C in December (DOC 2011). The averageannual rainfall at the Waipoua Forest Visitor Centre is 1605 mm, with the wettest monthsbeing June and July and the driest month January (Table 1). Higher areas in the east (on the7
Page 10 and 11: The Crown purchased the land that i
Page 13 and 14: 2.2.2.1 PeriphytonPeriphyton is fou
Page 15 and 16: At low altitude, forest association
Page 17 and 18: Figure 3 Common uses of the Waipoua
Page 19 and 20: 2.3 Managing the River and its catc
Page 21 and 22: Stream habitat assessments at RWQMN
Page 23 and 24: Table 4 Classification system based
Page 25 and 26: Table 6: Trend analysis results for
Page 27 and 28: 3.2.5 Invertebrate community health
Page 29 and 30: 2009 the community at the Waipoua R
Page 31 and 32: Northland Regional Council currentl
Page 33 and 34: There is no information on groundwa
Page 35 and 36: evidence that the causeway on Waipo
Page 37 and 38: on the river ecosystem, particularl
Page 39 and 40: However, overall the benefits of ob
Page 41 and 42: SQMCITPSemi Quantitative Macroinver
Page 43 and 44: Ogle, L. and Cook, T. (2005). North
Page 45 and 46: Table 13 cont. Macroinvertebrates r

Waipoua River 20130219.pdf - Northland Regional Council

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