5856_LH - Living Here - MARCH 2017_WEB

ENVIRONMENT
LIVING
HERE
MARCH 2017
Have your say!
Important information about the
2017/18 Annual Plan inside.
The Waimakariri River in Arthur’s Pass National Park, Selwyn,
is one of Canterbury’s unique braided rivers.
Canterbury’s natural environment is ours
to treasure, enjoy, use and protect.
To learn more, take a look inside.

Caring for our
landscape
W
hen you think of pest control, ‘Christmas trees’ may not be
high on the list of pests you think of. Self-sown pine and
other conifer trees cause significant issues for New Zealand’s
natural biodiversity. Their
‘weedy’ tendencies give
rise to wilding spread
so you’ll often see them
referred to as wilding
pines. They are very hardy
trees that produce lots
of light, wind-dispersed
seeds from an early age.
They can invade and take
over native habitats and
species, and may threaten
the whole of the South
A contractor undertaking on-the-ground
wilding pine control.
Island eastern hill and
high country. This year
Environment Canterbury is
undertaking a $4 million wilding control operation over 900,000 hectares,
co-funded and implemented with the Crown, Department of Conservation,
Land Information New Zealand, and land occupiers.
Wilding conifers are continuing to increase in
area at an average rate of about 5-6% per
year – with about 2.6 million hectares in New
Zealand already affected to some extent.
The National Wilding Conifer Management
Strategy 2015-2023, released by the Ministry
for Primary Industries, addresses control
of the pest across the country:
www.wildingconifers.org.nz.
Another introduced pest is gorse, well known for its vast spreads of yellow flowers
across the landscape. Environment Canterbury supports land owners to prevent
infestation of land that is presently free of gorse.
Walking in the Hurunui
T
here are some incredible walks across the Hurunui
district, from coastal walks near Amberley, forest walks in
Hanmer Springs, the Weka Pass Walkway, or if you need
more of a challenge, Mount Grey near Amberley, Mount
Isobel near Hanmer Springs and the St James Conservation Area.
www.visithurunui.co.nz.
To find out about the native birds and plants you could see on your walk,
such as the great-spotted kiwi/roroa, yellowhead/mohua, kākā, kea, or
the endangered orange-fronted parakeet/kākāriki-whero and blue duck/
whio (threatened) – visit www.ecan.govt.nz (nature in your area/Hurunui-
Waiau-zone).
There’s so much to explore
in the Hurunui District.
25%
Around 25% of Canterbury is
affected by wilding conifers.

Uniquely braided
In Canterbury, the seven alpine rivers that contribute 88% of the
flow within the region – Clarence/Waiau Toa, Waiau, Hurunui,
Waimakariri, Rakaia, Rangitata, and Waitaki – are all braided.
Other foothill rivers are also braided or
have braided reaches.
Braided rivers are iconic natural features,
found in only a few places around the
world, such as Alaska, Canada, the
Himalayan region, and New Zealand.
‘Braiding’ refers to the multiple water
channels that flow around gravel islands.
These unique features of the Canterbury
landscape started life during the last major
ice age 25,000 to 10,000 years ago, when
huge glaciers pushed millions of tonnes of
rock off the spine of the Southern Alps. As
the ice began to retreat, streams and rivers
carried this alluvial outwash down the
valleys of the east coast and deposited it
to form flat basins between the mountains
and the coastal plains.
Braided rivers are characterised by their
multiple, shifting channels, varying
flows and shingle substrate. The rivers
are an abundant supply of food and
support many species that can’t be found
anywhere else, including 26 species of
native bird, with the majority classified
as threatened and facing increased
pressures as the natural character of
their home changes.
It is recognised that the habitats provided
by braided river systems are becoming increasingly vulnerable as we
place pressures on them for water use, such as irrigation and hydro
schemes and recreation. They also face pressures from increased
pests, weeds and pollution.
Working together
In February, the Environment Canterbury Council
resolved to make Plan Change 4 of the Land &
Water Regional Plan (the ‘Omnibus’ plan change)
operative. Among other things, this plan change
strengthens the rules regarding removal of
vegetation from braided river beds and defines
those beds to make it easier to understand how
to comply with stock exclusion rules.
Many agencies have come together to ensure
an aligned approach to protecting the braided
rivers. Environment Canterbury, local councils,
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, Federated Farmers, the
Ministry for Primary Industries, Land Information
New Zealand, Department of Conservation,
Braided River Aid (Braid), Forest & Bird and many
other local groups are already driving work on
the ground that can be built on for the future.
Specific management plans are also being
considered for individual rivers, like the Hurunui.
The Canterbury Water Management Strategy (CWMS) aims to halt the
decline through its targets and goals with its focus on the integration
of water and land management including the protection of indigenous
biodiversity and water quality.
This is also integrated with kaitiakitanga
or guardianship by Ngāi Tahu which
applies to the ecological health of all
waterways.
A number of projects are underway
to protect and enhance braided-river
ecosystems and species. Such projects
include, weed control (e.g. preventing
weeds, surveillance, removal); sustained
predator control; rules for habitat
protection (e.g. legal protection of
waterways, firewood cutting rules);
adequate environmental flows to
sustain fauna; protected areas networks
(e.g. to protect a representative range
of rivers); community conservation
initiatives; recreation management (e.g.
restricted access for four wheel drives);
communication and education for river
users (e.g. improved signage); subregional
(zone) action plans; inventories
of current state; fencing of stock to keep
them out of waterways. Many of these
activities are methods for achieving the
CWMS targets.
The unique protection issues of
our braided rivers is explained at
www.ecan.govt.nz/cwms-braided-rivers.

Waimakariri
River
Before European settlement the
Waimakariri River was a vast and
unconstrained braided river that
frequently overflowed surrounding land,
including through the site of present day
Christchurch.
Over the past 150 years, people have
worked to contain the mighty river
and prevent it from overflowing. The
Waimakariri River Regional Park was
originally created as a way of managing
the Environment Canterbury-owned river
protection land along the length of the
Waimakariri River.
Today, the Waimakariri River Regional
Park covers 15,000 hectares of river and
river’s edge land divided up into several
park areas that cater for activities ranging
from mountain biking, picnicking, horse
riding, walking, gamebird hunting, fishing
and more.
Visit www.ecan.govt.nz
(under Your Region,
Lake Tekapo
Living in Canterbury,
Regional Parks).
Waimakariri
River

PM10 stands for Particulate Matter measuring under 10 microns in
diameter. These particles can deposit in our airways, which can cause
serious health effects. Environment Canterbury monitors for PM10, PM2.5
(the much finer subset of PM10 created from combustion), carbon
monoxide, and in some places sulphur dioxide.
Good stuff:
clearing the air
A
s we head into autumn the issue of how we can keep the air clear
while remaining warm in our homes over winter, raises its head.
We know that home heating is the main cause of winter air
pollution in the areas where air quality is monitored in Canterbury. Environment
Canterbury is tasked with providing the strategies and rules to help the
community to improve air quality so we can all breathe cleaner, healthier air.
What does this mean for the average household? First up, people need to be
able to keep warm during winter. But the community has also said it wants to
have clean air to breath. So to help achieve those goals we’re focusing on helping
people burn better, and upgrade to better burners.
This winter we’ll again be providing advice about how to light a clean-burning, hot
fire. Scientific evidence tells us that poor wood burning technique and inefficient
wood burners are responsible for the majority of winter pollution in our region.
That’s why we are encouraging the use of Energy Star® qualified heat pumps
or modern ultra-low emission burners that emit less smoke than older, more
polluting burners.
The World Health Organisation provides air quality guidelines and, consistent
with this, the Ministry for the Environment has set the National Environment
Standard for Air Quality (NESAQ), which allows for only one high-pollution
day a year from 2020. PM10 levels cannot exceed 50 micrograms per cubic
metre over a 24 hour period. When we exceed this guideline, we record it as a
‘high pollution’ event. Our targets for the number of high pollution days that is
acceptable are very low – and in some areas there is a lot of work to do still to
reach them.
The places we monitor are where pollution is known to be highest. If
concentrations in the worst areas are below the national guidelines then we can
be confident they are below across the town or city. Environment Canterbury’s
role is to help people comply with the rules as soon as possible so we are
collectively helping clear up the air.
There are a range of other heating options depending on your property type,
current burner, where you live etc. There are many variables allowed for in the
Canterbury Air Plan so if you need advice, check out the Environment Canterbury
website to see what applies in your area, or call us.
What’s on in the region
The Mackenzie A&P Highland Show will be held on 17 April at the Mackenzie
A&P Showgrounds, 1 Gillingham Street, Fairlie from 8:00am - 6:00pm.
For home and farm produce, wine and home brew, flowers, art, crafts,
jewellery, sculpture, photography, dog trials, highland dancing, piping and
solo drumming, alpacas, wearable arts, equestrian, sheep, wool, cattle, goats
and poultry and much more. Visit the show’s website for more information
www.mackenzieshow.co.nz.

Meet the locals
ALWAYS WEAR
YOUR LIFE
JACKET!
Canterbury is home to about 9% of the total boating population of New Zealand. That’s around 110,000 boaties (and approximately 31,680
powerboats). New Navigation Safety Bylaw is there to keep all these locals safe – see www.ecan.govt.nz/navsafety.
Jim Dilley is the
Harbourmaster for
Canterbury. Back in the
‘80s and ‘90s Jim used to
visit Lyttelton on container
ships before finishing up his
career at sea and moving to
New Zealand permanently.
Jim says Lyttelton’s one of
his favourite places in the
world, a gritty community
where a spade is a spade
and the people take
you at face value.
Digital connectivity
In December 2015 Spark NZ partnered with the Canterbury
Mayoral Forum and announced that it would bring forward
its roll out of 4G fast mobile broadband, to be completed by
December 2016. Spark NZ prioritised $14million of investment
into Canterbury and only mother nature could prevent them from
reaching their target, with just the Hundalee site being incomplete
due to the November 2016 earthquake breaking a guy wire on the
mast. Spark also went over and above the project specs by putting
in additional sites coverage and additional capacity.
Thank you
Makarini Rupene grew up in
the Tuahiwi pa and Kaiapoi,
brought up hunting, fishing
and gathering mahinga kai/
natural recourses with his
whanau and elders. This
childhood taught Makarini
the importance of the
environment and its living
ecosystems. Makarini is now
working for Environment
Canterbury as a Parks
Ranger working on our rivers
and the coastline cleaning
up or re-establishing
native areas to enhance
wetlands and ecosystems,
and upholding the bylaws
in the parks. Makarini also
represents his Rūnanga
on a Canterbury Water
Management committee.
As you can see from this
picture, Makarini has also
been involved with the Port
Hills fire fighting efforts.
Above: Community members got together on February 28 to rescue īnaka
(whitebait) and tuna (eels) from the drying Waikirikiri/Selwyn River near Coes Ford.
About 2,500 īnaka and 300 tuna were relocated to Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere.

Connect with us
2017/18 Annual Plan – have your say
It is that time of year when all the councils, including Environment Canterbury, will be asking
the community for feedback on their Annual Plan for the coming financial year (2017/18).
Environment Canterbury invites you to give feedback on activity proposed across the
region outlined in our draft Annual Plan.
Your local city or district council will also be asking you for feedback on its Annual Plan.
While Environment Canterbury works closely with city and district councils, we have
different roles so it’s important to engage in both processes if you want to have a say.
For the Environment Canterbury plan:
• Visit www.ecan.govt.nz, view the short summary document and/or the full draft
2017/18 Annual Plan and use the online form to send your feedback in
• Email ecinfo@ecan.govt.nz to arrange a time to talk to Councillors in May if you wish.
Please note, the closing date for feedback or to request a time to meet with Councillors is 5pm on Friday 21 April.
P hoto comp etition winner
Some fabulous images of this beautiful region were submitted
to the photo competition run in the last issue of Living Here.
Thank you to all those who shared them. The winner of the
Fitbit Alta Fitness Wristband is Cindy Merritt of Christchurch,
who took this picture on a walk around Purau Bay.
Join the conversation with Environment Canterbury.
Follow activity, post comments or
contact our Customer Services team.
ecan.govt.nz. 0800 EC INFO or 0800 324 636