Kia ora! Welcome to our April issue of On Stream.
Autumn’s definitely here, with the whole region starting to look very pretty as the leaves change colour. This month, we meet one of the groups supporting landowners to manage rabbits on their properties; we knock on wood and find out that a bonk, tonk or clunk isn’t as good as a clack, and; we take to the sky as flyovers begin ahead of winter grazing.
Q How do you define a scientist?
A “A scientist is someone who’s interested in learning new things, understanding how they work and how things fit into the bigger picture — someone with a curious mind. Everyone can be a scientist in their everyday life” — water quality scientist Markus Dengg.
Read our new feature, Ask a Scientist, to learn more about the fascinating work our science team does, and ask them some questions of your own! |
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Meet your ORC Councillor — Alexa Forbes, Dunstan Constituency
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The walls of Alexa Forbes’ Frankton home are painted in vibrant hues and hung with paintings and prints made by her husband and son, both artists. What’s her art?
“I’m a fixer,” she says. A darner, a sewer — she would rather a shirt had 200 wears than a fast-fashion 10 and loves the Japanese concept of Kintsugi, or ‘golden repair’ — mending something using gold to make the broken object more precious.
She has been known to take the shirt off other people’s backs to stitch it better.
Mending and using less is at the core of everything Alexa does. She lives, breathes, and teaches sustainability. Whether it’s harvesting her permaculture-inspired garden, which produces a huge amount of food on a tiny section, or her academic work as a lecturer in sustainable practice — she toils to highlight the environmental precipice we currently teeter on.
With both visitor and residential numbers rising exponentially in the Queenstown Lakes District, the detrimental effect of an economic system that only works if we keep consuming more is plain to see right here in her own backyard. Living in her 1930's bungalow for 22 years — and on the same street for 26 — has allowed her to note changes in the lake: degradation.
“The water is not as clear as it used to be; I’ve watched as various pest plants have appeared … sediment and run-off from development and roadworks … human activity, basically. The lake level is very low right now — there’s not a lot of snow in the glacier ice pack to feed the catchment.”
Alexa has real concern for the future of the waterways we love.
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Rabbit management starts in your backyard
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OPBG community coordinator Paula Cross walks the talk when it comes to a pest-free Otago Peninsula
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ECO Fund recipient Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group (OPBG) is developing a community rabbit programme to support land occupiers to undertake rabbit management on their properties.
They work with the community in the education/advocacy space with a focus on biodiversity values, and ORC is proud to support the awesome mahi they are doing.
The OPBG community programme is well underway, with educational meetings and emailed information for landowners. OPBG has developed a community rabbit management plan and is now working with property owners to construct rabbit-fenced control blocks at areas on the Otago Peninsula to support land occupiers to undertake a rabbit knockdown operation.
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Is it a bird? A plane? Yes, it’s a plane.
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We’ve begun farm flyovers for the 2023 Intensive Winter Grazing season and will also be looking at any large land disturbances, such as forestry or earthworks, around waterways.
In the coming months there will be flyovers in North Otago, South Otago and Central Otago.
ORC's Principal Compliance Specialist, Mike Cummings, says each flyover is about gathering information and then talking with people before anything happens as part of a proactive approach to compliance.
“We're looking out for things like forestry, any machinery which is working in or around our streams, rivers and wetlands and, of course, Intensive Winter Grazing (IWG) practices."
ORC will be actively monitoring the IWG season with not only the flyovers but also site visits, and will be responding to complaints and other information received. Complaints or information about IWG practices or any other activities can be made to ORC's Pollution Hotline — 0800 800 033.
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April’s Pest of the Month is … the feral rabbit
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Rabbits are a significant pest in Otago and a serious threat to our biodiversity, environment and economy.
They were introduced to New Zealand in the early 1800s for meat and hunting, but in the absence of predators, they quickly became a pest. They graze native seedlings and vegetation, compete with stock for pasture and crops, and can cause severe soil erosion and degradation. Ten rabbits can eat as much grass as one sheep, and they breed, well, like rabbits! Females can be pregnant for 70% of the year, and rabbits as young as five months old can produce up to 50 offspring each year!
Feral rabbits are small, grey-brown (sometimes black) mammals, 34-50cm in length, inhabiting grasslands at low to mid-range altitudes across the region.
Visit our Pest Hub for more information about feral rabbits and rabbit management.
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We’re here to check the air
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Our air quality team has recently upgraded several monitoring sites in Otago, which are now capable of recording concentrations of fine particulate matter — which is produced by combustion — in the air.
Combustion-related particulate matter is more harmful to our health, as these smaller particles can enter the bloodstream after inhalation into our lungs.
The new instruments installed at our sites in Milton, Mosgiel, Dunedin, Clyde, Cromwell and Arrowtown will be more reliable, require fewer site visits and technician time, and mean we can better monitor for unhealthy levels of air pollution.
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The new Dunedin monitoring site on Clyde Street
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| Look out for the colourful artwork that will soon wrap the new Clyde Street monitoring site in Dunedin! |
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Winter’s on its way — time to get your wood sorted. Why not branch out and stick with us — we have tips to help you burn cleaner.
One quick and easy way to check if your firewood is dry enough to burn is to grab two pieces and knock them together. Do they make a dull ‘THUNK’ sound? They might need some more time drying out. Do they make a light ‘CLACK’ sound? Sounds like you’ve got some dry firewood that’s ready to burn.
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Did you know?
Norwegians reckon you can measure a person by how they stack their woodpile:
Upright and solid pile: Upright and solid person
Low pile: Cautious, could be shy
Tall pile: Big ambitions, but watch out for sagging and collapse
Flamboyant pile, widely visible: Extroverted, but possibly a bluffer
Unfinished pile, some logs lying on the ground: Unstable, lazy
Pedantic pile: Perfectionist with too much time on their hands
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Whatever your woodpile looks like, it needs to be dry enough to burn. Dry firewood will not only light easier, but it will also provide more heat with a lot less smoke. Better for your own health and for those around you!
Wood moisture meters are a fool-proof way of checking your wood is dry enough to be burned. While you’re chopping your wood, simply insert the pins into a freshly cut edge, and within a few seconds, a moisture percentage will display.
By only burning firewood with a moisture content under 20%, you will ensure a higher heat output and reduced smoke.
Any reduction in smoke helps to improve the air quality in our communities.
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We have some FREE moisture meters to give away!
Nab one simply by emailing a photo of YOUR woodpile to lisa.scott@orc.govt.nz |
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Happy worms at Macandrew Bay School
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Macandrew Bay School recently engaged with the Enviroschools Zero Waste Theme Area.
Zero Waste is about challenging the whole concept of ‘waste’ and involves three key concepts: waste is a human product, looking after Papatūānuku — how our current waste management creates problems, and designing for zero waste.
The school is in the process of introducing worm farming, and the students have been learning about the difference in conditions between a worm farm and a landfill, the aerobic vs anaerobic conditions and the different impacts of these gases on our climate.
Students are also investigating what worms like, whether it be wet or dry conditions. This is in preparation for making worm farms that are both good for worms and maintainable.
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Water quality scientist Markus Dengg takes a sample in the Greenstone Valley
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ORC water quality scientist Markus Dengg came to New Zealand from Austria in 2018 to do his PhD at the University of Otago on lakes in the North Island: Taupō, Rotorua and Ōkataina — “a very cool lake completely surrounded by natural forest, with no nearby human settlement” — investigating the effect trace metals have on toxic algal blooms.
Markus grew up in Murau, a small town in the Austrian Alps surrounded by beautiful landscapes. Prior to his PhD, he did a bachelor’s and master's in freshwater ecology at the University of Vienna. Austria has quite a different university system, meaning bachelor's and master's degrees take much longer than in New Zealand (4-5 years for a bachelor's and 2-3 for a master's), so all up, he has spent 12 years studying! Markus and his partner are proud parents to a 6-month-old daughter: “Not that I’m biased, but she is super cute.”
Did you know ORC’s science team regularly publishes academic papers in their 'spare' time?
“We’re not scientists for the sake of sitting at our desks at Regional Council — we’re scientists because we want to make a difference.”
Q Favourite part of the job?
A “Being out in the region, talking to people, analysing data and doing something that really makes a difference. This was a big part of why I wanted to work for the council and not stay in academia publishing papers; however, in saying that, science is not static, and we are all interested in the latest science findings. You can’t slack off — there’s so much new research coming out.”
Q How does ORC apply surface water quality science?
A "Water quality science has many applications but especially applies to state-of-the-environment monitoring, when we use the data generated from 109 sites across the region to check the surface water quality of our region. A lot of data is generated by this programme: 12 months' worth translates to 30,000 lines in an Excel spreadsheet. Another application is our contact recreation programme, where we monitor bacteria levels and toxic algae in 31 popular swimming sites across the region during summer."
Q How do I identify toxic algae?
A "There’s an excellent video by the Cawthron Institute on LinkedIn: 'Toxic algae in our rivers — what New Zealanders need to know', but essentially, in rivers, watch out for dark, musky smelling mats; in a lake it would look like pea soup swimming on top of the lake water."
Q How can the public find out about the water quality research ORC is doing?
A "You don’t need 12 years at university and a PhD to understand water quality analysis outputs/reports these days. The council wants to make information as easily accessible and understandable as possible. Our new Environmental Data Portal has up-to-date information specific to your part of the region."
Useful links:
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Ask a Scientist
Our next scientist is Erik Button, who is a soil scientist. Have a question about soil for Erik? Email askascientist@orc.govt.nz — we’ll post the answers on Facebook and our website.
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Land and Water Regional Plan Update
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ORC thanks communities for their latest feedback on the development of our proposed Land and Water Regional Plan (LWRP) for Otago.
Round two of consultation from October to December last year saw about 320 people attend community meetings across the region, and a lot of useful, well-considered feedback was submitted in person and online.
Common themes included the need to recognise and provide for efforts already made or underway by local communities and landholders to look after the environment, as well as the need to better manage land use change to protect the health of our rivers and lakes and ensure the plan does not conflict with other legislation also driving on-the-ground change.
While we had hoped to see communities again in March this year, processing this feedback and using it to assist us with the next stage of plan development has required more time.
We will be back out in the second half of the year, ahead of notification, for the third round of consultation, where we will present communities with region-wide and bespoke provisions for each of the region’s Freshwater Management Units (FMUs) and rohe (areas).
The deadline for public notification of the proposed Land and Water Regional Plan is 30 June 2024.
Thank you to everyone for their openness to share things with us that concerned them. It is so important we get this right and ensure we are all prioritising the health of Otago’s waterways for future generations.
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S is for Scat.
Scat is another word for animal poo. A scattalog is a whole lot of poop together — like a catalogue, but not one you’d want to read!
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Find out about monthly Otago Regional Council meetings here.
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Feel free to forward this email to anyone who might like to read it. If you have any story ideas or want to know anything specific about anything in this issue, let us know by emailing lisa.scott@orc.govt.nz. If you have been forwarded this email, you can sign up here. |
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