Media Release
EIT Forum to Consider Tukituki River’s Future

A Hawke’s Bay taonga, the Tukituki River – like all treasures – must be carefully guarded if it is to remain valuable to this region.
EIT is to stage a Hawke’s Bay forum to consider management issues for the river, posing the question – can farmers and environmentalists both win?
The venue for the 18 September forum will be Whare Matora at Te Manga Maori, EIT’s School of Maori Studies.
Exploring the pros and cons of the proposal to dam the river for irrigation purposes, the speakers will be:
• Andrew Newman, Hawke’s Bay Regional Council chief executive, presenting the overview of the project
• Dr Roger Maaka, Dean of Maori Studies at EIT, providing the Maori perspective
• Tom Belford, publisher of Bay Buzz, who will raise crucial questions
• Vaughan Cooper of Forest and Bird, present an environmental view
• Hawke’s Bay farmer Hugh Ritchie who will discuss both sides of the farming argument

The forum, to be held from 5.30-7.30pm, will be chaired by Diane Joyce, the editor of the Hastings and Napier Mail newspapers.

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