Press release 11 June 2011 from James Muir following viewing of River Dog in Lower Hutt on 24 May 2011

Documentary Prompts Plans To Protect Rivers

The local documentary “River Dog” was shown recently in Lower Hutt to a lively crowd of Hutt Valley residents concerned at the worsening plight of our rivers. The doco tells of the degradation of the Pahaoa River in the Wairarapa and the heroic efforts of a local farmer, Grant Muir, to prevent stock access by neighbouring farmers. With his pack of dogs he regularly patrols the river and repeatedly chases away the cattle from neighbouring farms that degrade the river, and river banks.

Present at the meeting were representatives from Greater Wellington regional council who are responsible for protecting our rivers. Fran Wilde, Chair Greater Wellington, said that the regional council is releasing its “Guide to managing stock access to waterways in the Wellington region” in June. Grant Muir commented that “The Ministry for the Environment released a guide for managing waterways in 2001, Environment Waikato released a guide in 2002, and Southland regional council released their guide in 2004. GW is very slow to release their guide. Rivers don’t wait before they die. They die. It takes a lot of time and effort to get a river back alive again.”

Grant Muir further commented that “There are maybe 80 - 90% of farmers who avoid bad practice with regard to rivers and some have adopted best practice by fencing off rivers and streams and planting stream edges. However there is an obstinate 10% of farmers who do not acknowledge their responsibility to care for the waterways, and even intentionally fence stock on to river banks including the riverbed which is public land, for a small profit margin with huge damage to the rivers”.

As the valuation of farms is calculated by stock numbers, farmers wanting to sell can exaggerate market values by overstocking. Bad practice farmers are not interested in guidelines. Stronger measures are needed. It is unbelievable that farmers in the GW region are still fencing their stock IN to the river and its banks. The meeting was also informed by members of the audience that this problem is also happening with the Huangarua River in the Wairarapa and the Mangaroa River in the Hutt Valley.

Nigel Corry, General Manager, Environment Management Group, Greater Wellington failed to find comment when asked if the local farmers on Pahaoa River had been notified in writing to discontinue grazing their cattle on the river banks and river beds, instead Fran Wilde answered that “yes, I have talked with them, myself”. This may suggest that no letters outlining the expectation has been sent to the farmers at all. Given the strong public interest, it is a priority that evidence of GWRC responses to pollution of rivers and use of public land by bad practice farmers is brought forward. As the benchmark sits, it appeared to some that farming in Wellington’s rivers is ‘ok’ by GWRC. In regard to Greater Wellington regional council’s view that “… there would be unchecked growth of nuisance weeds if grazing were stopped around waterways,[ and] Environmental weeds such as, gorse, old man’s beard and crack willow could choke waterways and create a flood risk”, Grant Muir points out “that this is an antiquated view promoted by people with no regard for the damage caused by stock in rivers. Native bush growth quickly deals with weeds.”

At the meeting Fran Wilde noted that “The current Regional Freshwater Plan is not good enough. It does not have teeth.” However it is going to take 2 more years to develop the replacement plan – the Natural Resources Management Plan for the Wellington region. In the meantime the condition of our rivers is worsening. She did not mention any plan to develop a Leaders Forum, an Accord or an Action Plan as have occurred in the Manawatu, spearheaded by Horizons Regional Council.

When questioned about what it takes to force a bad-practice farmer to change, Nigel Corry said his staff need to see the offending action. Members of the audience acknowledged that his staff cannot be everywhere at all times and suggested that other ways of getting evidence should be considered. There are more people than just his staff that can record evidence. Clearly Greater Wellington need to examine some of their practices to make them realistic in dealing with recalcitrant farmers.

Despite the clear evidence of a serious problem on the Pahaoa River the Council are not monitoring the quality of the Pahaoa River – the second longest river in the Wairarapa. In fact a search on the Greater Wellington web site returns only the Ruamahanga River and its tributaries being monitored in the Wairarapa for water quality.

The next screenings of River Dog will take place at Forest and Bird Wellington City, June 25th (details tbc) and Circus Cinema in Martinborough on Sunday June 26th at 3.30pm. Limited seats avaiable and the filmmakers will be presenting and taking questions after the screenings.

ends

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