Waikato Regional PC1 could stifle good farming practices — Feds
Proposed new regulations for the Waikato and Waipā River Catchments outlined in Plan Change 1 have raised concerns in the agricultural sector.
Their Waikato River Restoration Strategy project, launched last month by Environment Minister Nick Smith, will run until 2017.
The authority and DairyNZ will each pay $200,000 and the regional council $75,000 towards costs. DairyNZ and the council will also donate staff time.
All three organisations have in recent years helped to protect and restore the river.
The Waikato River Authority has completed four funding rounds for river clean-ups, allocating $22 million to 140 projects.
DairyNZ has recently led a $2.3 million project to develop 600 sustainable milk plans in the upper Waikato River catchment around Karapiro, resulting in 4700 on-farm actions. And a further $1.3 million of dairy farmers' levy funds are being spent on 850 sustainable milk plans for the Waipa area, a wetlands project and this new river restoration.
Waikato Regional Council has since 2002 provided almost $3.3 million towards riparian fencing and planting, and land retirement, in the Waikato and Waipa rivers catchments.
It has also been involved in river protection work including the Healthy Rivers: Plan for Change project.
The new Waikato River Restoration Strategy will help guide spending to improve the Waikato River for up to 15 years. And it will guide the work of other stakeholders.
A key initiative is the Waikato River Restoration Forum, involving the three strategy partners and all Waikato River iwi, DOC, Fonterra, Genesis Energy and Mighty River Power and local councils.
"Our aim is... a healthy Waikato River that sustains abundant life and prosperous communities," says authority co-chair Tukoroirangi Morgan. "Those communities, in turn, are all responsible for... the Waikato River, and all it embraces, for generations."
DairyNZ chairman John Luxton, the other co-chair of the authority, says the dairy sector is committed to improving river health. "The... strategy will help guide all forum members [in] the best approach to restoration. Farmers have been stepping up to do their bit and DairyNZ is supporting them."
Waikato Regional Council chairperson Paula Southgate says the new strategy "is taking the spirit of collaboration over river health to new heights in the Waikato. It's only by working closely together that we'll truly protect the rivers in a way that supports the economy, our communities and our environment."
