Wairarapa landowner 'destroyed protected wetlands'

A Wairarapa landowner is accused of destroying 14 hectares of rare and protected wetlands to create more land for his farming venture.

Greater Wellington regional council is taking Lloyd Rayner and the company of which he is a director, Hauroa Farms Ltd, to court over works done in the Tauherenikau Delta wetlands bordering Lake Wairarapa.

Rayner and the company are to face three joint charges in Masterton District Court of excavating/disturbing a riverbed, damming water and diverting water from a river and wetland. If found guilty, they face a maximum $200,000 fine per charge or six months' jail.

Rayner told The Dominion Post last night that the works carried out did not involve wetlands.

"The only place we were draining was a drain on the back of our property because for the past 12 months we have been trying to get consent to clean the manmade drain which has been backing up in our property.

"As far as we are concerned, we haven't touched any wetlands."

Greater Wellington environmental regulation manager Al Cross said the damage was discovered by council staff in March.

Mr Cross said the area was a "unique wetland area", of "major national significance as it is the largest wetland complex in the southern North Island".

The charges allege that in March, Rayner, as overseer of the land owned by Hauroa Farms, drained water by damming the river and removed the wetland area to turn it into productive farmland.

Mr Cross said the allegations were serious given the value of wetlands home to native fish species, including black flounder, inanga, koura, freshwater crayfish, common bully and kokopu (native freshwater trout), as well as canada geese, grey teal, and paradise shell duck and black swan.

"This wetland is connected to a complex which has a real national status. Any work requires resource consent and any work of this size would be very unlikely to be granted consent anyway."

The area where the alleged damage happened is part-owned by Hauroa Farms and Fish and Game New Zealand.

Mr Cross said that the works affected the vital role of wetlands to sustain wildlife.

"These areas are home to a unique variety of wetland plants, water fowl and freshwater fish that are important for the biodiversity of the region.

"While nothing has been killed in this process, there is always a major risk."

VITAL HABITAT

* A wetland is an area of land usually covered in or saturated by water. They include swamps, bogs, salt marshes, lakes and some river edges.

* Tauherenikau Delta is part of the Lake Wairarapa wetlands, which comprise Lake Wairarapa, its associated wetlands and reserves, the Ruamahanga Cutoff, Lake Onoke and Pounui Lagoon.

* These are the largest wetlands in the southern North Island, considered to be of international importance for supporting numerous bird species, providing habitat for rare and endangered fish species, and nationally threatened and regionally rare plants.

* Up to 90 per cent of New Zealand's original wetlands have been drained since colonisation, mainly to make way for towns, farms and roads.

- © Fairfax NZ News