Kia ora! Welcome to our March issue of On Stream.
In this issue, get your share of funding for community projects that protect and enhance Otago’s environment, check out our new portal for water info, and find out why bur daisy is our pest of the month and what podzol is.
But first, what’s the difference between a gecko and a skink? Read on to find the answer in our story about one of our ECO Fund recipients. |
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Land and Water Regional Plan extension granted
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Last month, our Council sought an extension to the deadline for the Land and Water Regional Plan (LWRP), extending this from December 2023 to June 2024.
Once in place, the new plan will manage land and water activities important to rural and urban communities and ultimately replace Otago’s outdated Regional Plan: Water and the Regional Plan: Waste, which have both been in place for a considerable time. You can read more about the proposed plan here.
The Minister has now approved that extension, also acknowledging the positive progress we have made and the complications resulting from a recent High Court declaration.
ORC Chair Gretchen Robertson thanked the Minister:
“This is a positive outcome for ORC and those involved in the process to prepare the new plan. The focus for ORC — staff and Councillors — remains on delivering a quality land and water plan for the protection and enhancement of Otago’s environment. There is still a lot of work to do, and everyone involved will continue to work hard to ensure the new deadline is met,” she says.
More information around the new timeline and ORC’s progress will be available in due course – stay tuned!
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This year we’ve nearly doubled the amount of money available.
The total contestable environmental grant money for 2023 is now $568,000, up from $470,000 in the 2022 round. Criteria and application forms are on our website.
To date, the ECO Fund (including Incentives Funding) has funded 100 projects from 232 applications, totalling $1,190,125 out of $4.03 million requested over eight rounds. Whether your project is large or small, we welcome your application! ECO Fund closes on 31 March.
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Get your intensive winter grazing consent sorted
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We have launched farmer workshops for intensive winter grazing (IWG), with 10 workshops at seven locations on offer during March and April.
Upcoming workshops include Middlemarch, Hāwea/Luggate, Catlins, Papakaio and Five Forks. Get the details here.
If you’re unsure of how to put an IWG resource consent together, come along, as you will be able to complete your consent “on the spot”.
Applications should be in by mid-April to ensure consents are in place by 1 May.
ORC’s Catchment Team are more than happy to set up workshops in other locations throughout Otago. Email them at catchments@orc.govt.nz.
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Your one-stop shop for farm rules and regs
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There are a lot of rules and guidelines that farmers need to understand. We’ve pulled them all together in one place online.
These rules apply to farming activities, with information on when you might need a resource consent, useful links, relevant dates and answers to frequently asked questions.
If you’re ever unsure, contact our public enquiries team, who can help with consent information. Book a time to talk to us, email public.enquiries@orc.govt.nz or call us on 0800 474 082.
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What’s the difference between a gecko and a skink? A skink can blink, while a gecko has to lick its eyes to keep them clean and moist. A skink has pointy toes, and a gecko has rounded ones.
We discovered this when we recently met with one of our ECO Fund recipients, a project to translocate 60 Otago green skinks from Oteake conservation area to New Zealand’s first fully fenced dryland sanctuary, the Mokomoko Dryland Sanctuary in Alexandra.
The sanctuary is 14 hectares and is looked after by a core team of 20-30 volunteers. We talked to one of the volunteer trustees, wildlife ecologist Dr Grant Norbury.
“We’ve already translocated three species — including grand skinks and Otago skinks from the Lindis and Hawea area — into the sanctuary near Alexandra. Their numbers are declining in these areas due to predation and habitat degradation.
What predators?
“You name it: ferrets, wild cats, stoats and mice. We’ve seen mice attack one-foot-long lizards. The third species was the jewelled gecko from the Lammermoor range. They are all doing quite well.”
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This summer, a fourth species will be translocated: the Otago green skink. They are scattered throughout Otago, “but we can see lots of populations blinking out,” says Grant.
The plan is to introduce 60 individuals — the sanctuary can easily sustain a couple of thousand.
Find out more at www.mokomokosanctuary.com
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Pest of the month — Bur Daisy
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PHOTO: Kirk Robertson, ORC Biosecurity Officer — Coastal Otago
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Why is Bur Daisy a pest?
While some daisies make nice daisy chain necklaces, bur daisy is a serious threat to farming as it can contaminate sheep wool. It produces many seeds, quickly spread by stock movement, producing new plants for many years.
It is a small herb that can grow up to 40cm tall, easily recognisable by its many fine, green branches, tiny, thin green leaves and small, pom pom-like clusters of bright yellow flowers. These develop into very hard, brown burs covered in tiny hooks.
Please let us know if you think you have spotted bur daisy by calling 0800 474 082 or emailing pests@orc.govt.nz. Visit our Pest Hub to find out how to control it.
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New Environmental Data Portal launched.
We’ve just launched a new environmental data portal which offers much more information. The new portal collates data from more than 250 water monitoring sites around Otago and replaces the existing flood and low-flow warning sites currently available.
The portal gives people access to a user-friendly map showing what is happening across the region, plus the ability to view and download historical data.
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What we’re proposing for the annual plan 2023-24
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We established our proposed 2023-24 Annual Plan in February, signalling an intent to stay on track with the work our communities have asked us to do.
We are committed to raising Otago’s environmental standards, supporting communities to be more resilient in the face of climate change, improving and restoring land and water quality and improving public transport.
Every year we chart a course for our work programme and forecast how much that costs. Our annual plan process for 2023-2024 has started. Find out what we have planned, check out our new fees and schedules and have your say at www.orc.govt.nz/AnnualPlan.
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P is for Podzol.
Podzol means "under-ash" and comes from the full Russian form of the word ‘podzolistaya pochva’, which means under-ash soil.
It is the typical soil found in coniferous (cone-bearing) and boreal forests (where freezing temperatures occur most of the year).
It’s also a dirt-type block in the video game Minecraft!
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Councillor Alan Somerville (Dunedin Constituency) with two of his younger constituents
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Alan’s introduction to an early childhood teaching career was taking his oldest child to Riselaw Road Playcentre in 1995, and he never really left, spending 30 years in various early childhood roles.
He retired from Te Pā at the Otago University Childcare Association last year. He keeps his hand in (the playdough) leading playgroup every Tuesday at the Dunedin Parents Centre in Mornington. Safe to say he’s heard The Wheels on the Bus a fair number of times and is used to sitting in child-sized chairs.
“Playgroup is an interesting counterpoint to council meetings,” says Alan.
Why did he stand for election to ORC?
“It’s all very well believing in things, like action on inequality and doing something about the effects of climate change — but it’s not much use unless you do something meaningful. So, I stuck my head above the parapet.
“I’ve been inspired by my children and how adventurous they have been in their lives — I thought I could do with taking a risk myself.”
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The Enviroschools year has kicked off with a number of hui for secondary students across the region.
These hui are all about leadership in action; students identify the sustainability work already happening in their school, get challenged to think about the future they want to create in their school and community, and explore skills and tools to work out what to do next and get others involved.
These are about connecting like-minded students from other schools, getting hands-on with building shelters from local materials and making lunch for everyone.
We are really looking forward to supporting these students to make their ideas happen.
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LEFT: Making the kai for lunch
RIGHT: Building sustainable community spaces
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Our work at Tomahawk Lagoon
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Following a scoping exercise in 2017-18, the community around Tomahawk Lagoon Catchment agreed that this precious natural environment and its ecosystem should be protected and enhanced.
We have dedicated $260,000 over three years to work with the community, mana whenua and key stakeholders to do just that, enhance the Tomahawk Lagoon Catchment.
A key way for us to do this is by working with local groups. Last month, ORC Project Delivery Specialist Freya Moore assisted ECOTAGO Tomahawk Lagoon Citizen Science Group in a training day, teaching local school students how to sample and test water quality at Tomahawk Lagoon toward a long-term understanding of the ecological and environmental trends of the lagoon and wider catchment.
Awesome mahi, ECOTAGO whānau!
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Marc Schallenberg (University of Otago/Cawthron Institute) teaches Tahuna Normal Intermediate School and Otago Girls' High School students how to identify macroinvertebrates found in Tomahawk Lagoon.
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Back from the Wānaka A&P Show
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A big thank you to everyone who took the time to come and have a chat with us at the Wānaka show.
There was a lot of feedback about what we are doing well, and where folks think we can improve.
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TOP: the fishing game was a hit with younger visitors to our tent.
BOTTOM LEFT: ORC Councillor Kate Wilson with the riparian plants she cultivated at home and kindly donated for the event.
BOTTOM RIGHT: Team Leader Environmental Monitoring Susan Wells with Councillors Kevin Malcolm and Elliot Weir.
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Perfect timing for river group meeting
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A group of regional council flood-risk managers in Aotearoa New Zealand was recently hosted by ORC in Otago for the first time.
The River SIG (Special Interest Group) meets twice yearly over two days and brings together staff from over 20 councils across the country who work in the flood protection, land drainage and river management space. Attendees came from Otago, Northland, Auckland, Gisborne, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Wellington, Tasman, Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury and Southland.
ORC Manager Engineering Michelle Mifflin says the conference is a time for river managers and specialists to meet and share knowledge and updates around managers' roles in the flood protection, land drainage and river management space.
The group covered key topics around North Island recovery, Three Waters reform, Central Government co-investment, updates in best practices and methodologies in river management and climate change.
Deputy Chair Lloyd McCall opened and closed the forum, with between 20 and 30 people present on both days.
“It was very successful, and we are very proud of the two days, which has received positive feedback from everyone who attended,” says Michelle.
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Attendees at the River SIG forum held recently in Ōtepoti Dunedin
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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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