Selwyn Times: December 16, 2020
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SELWYN RURAL LIFE<br />
Wednesday <strong>December</strong> <strong>16</strong> <strong>2020</strong> <strong>Selwyn</strong> <strong>Times</strong> 31<br />
‘Consent to Farm’<br />
regime takes hold<br />
About 900 farmers in the <strong>Selwyn</strong> Waihora<br />
land and water catchment now need a land<br />
use consent to farm, including a Farm<br />
Environment Plan.<br />
On farms with nitrogen losses over 15kg<br />
per hectare per year, reductions of between<br />
5% (horticulture) and 30% (dairy) are<br />
required from 2022.<br />
After gaining a land use consent, the farm<br />
will be regularly independently audited<br />
to ensure good management practices are<br />
being followed, and nitrogen limits and<br />
reductions are being met.<br />
Stock access rules are tighter in <strong>Selwyn</strong><br />
than elsewhere, including drains as well<br />
as other waterways, wetlands and lakes.<br />
Within the cultural area, further restrictions<br />
apply for wetlands and beds of lakes, rivers<br />
and drains.<br />
A Cultural Landscape Values<br />
Management Area takes account of the<br />
mahinga kai, wāhi tapu and wāhi taonga<br />
(sacred or treasured) sites, and places<br />
additional requirements on farmers to<br />
address these values.<br />
One of the most precious areas is Te<br />
Waihora/Lake Ellesmere, which has<br />
vulnerable to nutrient loads from the<br />
catchment.<br />
Not all nitrogen losses from farming,<br />
community and industrial activities end<br />
up in the lake, but regardless of source,<br />
it’s widely accepted that restoring the<br />
macrophyte beds in the lake and addressing<br />
the legacy phosphorus in the lake bed<br />
silts will be challenging. Current work to<br />
rehabilitate the lake includes macrophyte<br />
(aquatic plant) trials behind artificial wave<br />
barrier, a floating wetland trial and using a<br />
nutrient model to explore ways to address<br />
the lake’s phosphorus.<br />
Alongside this work, the <strong>Selwyn</strong> Waihora<br />
Zone Committee, a regional-council<br />
linked body responsible for environmental<br />
planning, has allocated $100,000 per year<br />
of Immediate Steps biodiversity funding to<br />
biodiversity projects. More than $600,000<br />
has already been allocated to a wide range<br />
of projects.<br />
Projects include a Hororata biodiversity<br />
corridor, featuring more than a dozen areas<br />
of native vegetation including wetland. The<br />
aim here is to create “stepping stones” for<br />
biodiversity from the top of the catchments.<br />
Region-wide, there’s also Te Ara Kākāriki,<br />
a native planting programme large areas<br />
across the plains to Te Waihora/Lake<br />
Ellesmere.<br />
Native planting will also protect and<br />
rehabilitate nutrient-loaded springheads<br />
and wetlands, which will help protect<br />
vulnerable species like Canterbury Mudfish.<br />
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Happy Holidays<br />
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