The magic of the Matakitaki

The latest plan to harness one of Murchison's wild rivers for hydroelectricity have tourism operators gearing up for another fight and wondering where it will all end. Sally Kidson reports.

 

 

Murchison has long been the butt of smug townie jokes, dismissed as the place to grab a coffee, stretch your legs, use the loo and be thankful you are on your way to somewhere else.

But make a pit stop in Murchison these days and you can't help but notice that things have changed.

The town is humming, revitalised not only by the dairy boom, but by tourism.

Visitors are flocking to the area, not for its coffee or public toilets, but for its wild rivers - the Owen, the Gowan, the Mangles, the Matakitaki and the mighty Buller.

But it is not just the kayakers, rafters and anglers who have become so besotted with the swift, untamed waters.

Energy companies are once again focusing on the catchment. Long-running plans to develop the area for hydroelectric generation are being revised.

Three times in the past four years, energy companies have announced plans, leading to further waves of tussling between would-be hydro developers and river users.

The latest is Hope-based Network Tasman's investigations into a power scheme on the Matakitaki River, an announcement that prompted one "crusty old paddler", Andrew Scott, to warn in a letter to the Nelson Mail that the paddling and outdoor community would run a "die-in-the-ditch" campaign to save the river.

"The problem is they (Murchison residents) don't really know what is there," Murchison's New Zealand Kayak School owner Mick Hopkinson sighs in reference to the Matakitaki. "If they did, they wouldn't let it happen."

Hopkinson, a silver-haired 59-year-old who is known around the world for his kayaking skills, has carved a life and business out of the 14 rivers that slice through the Buller catchment.

Having paddled some of the world's wildest white water, after learning to paddle on the polluted waterways of his native Yorkshire, he says he understands how special the Buller catchment is.

It's a drawcard not only for its wildness, but for its accessibility and the sheer variety of runs it offers paddlers of all skill levels, he says.

"It's one of the top kayaking destinations in the Southern Hemisphere."

Wanting to demonstrate just what the Network Tasman proposal and other schemes could jeopardise, Hopkinson has organised to take a Nelson Mail reporter and photographer on a short trip down the middle Matakitaki with Murchison rafting company Ultimate Descents New Zealand.

Preparing for the trip on a foggy Murchison morning, Hopkinson keeps walking over with another point to make, then walking away shaking his head.

It's clear the future of the rivers weighs heavily on his mind.

"Some of my woman friends have been down there (the Matakitaki) 50 times, before they graduate to anywhere else," he says. "It's a classic grade two stretch of water."

Network Tasman argues that whatever scheme, if any, it comes up with for the Matakitaki, it will be positive for the region as a whole and fit in with government policy for the country to focus on sustainable electricity generation.

Hopkinson worries people are still stuck in the "Ministry of Works mindset", where they see power schemes as being for the public good.

"These are private companies wanting to use public water to make money."

He's also upset that hydro is being portrayed as benignly renewable. While the water may be renewable, the physical schemes have a finite life, he argues.

He's just come back from a trip to the United States, where millions is being spent on decommissioning old schemes and restoring the rivers to their natural state.

We head into the Matakitaki Valley directly south of Murchison, leaving the township behind in a blanket of fog.

A faded sticker on the van's window says "No Gowan Canal", a reminder of the last battle against hydro plans for one of the Buller catchment rivers.

Up the valley, it's a stunning early spring day.

About 30 minutes out of Murchison, we start our trip down the river.

The earthquake-ravaged cliffs of Old Man Mountain provide a stunning backdrop and a sharp reminder that the Matakitaki Valley is on a fault line.

That fault stretches down to the start of the Kahurangi National Park and the Matiri Valley, the site of another proposed hydro scheme. Inevitably, that raises questions of the wisdom of building hydro schemes on such a well-known fault system.

Getting into the raft, Hopkinson points out that the charm of the river is missed by most people, who only catch glimpses of it from the road.

At river level, the road and the surrounding farmland is not visible, giving the sense of a wilderness area.

"This is the highlight of many people's four-day course at the kayak school," he says. "They've had to work really hard to get here."

It's easy to see why the trip is one that even the most experienced never tire of.

Native bush scattered with scores of flowering kowhai trees lines the river bank.

Aside from a few pine trees on the skyline, a power line across the river and a working goldmine downstream are the only signs of civilisation in the two hours we are on the river.

Gold mining was a big industry up the Matakitaki. Wises New Zealand Guide says that in the 1870s, the valley was referred to as being inhabited by the "lost tribes", referring to the gangs of miners living there.

The scenery is as varied as the river, which weaves through wide banks and narrows through low gorges. In its deeper, slower parts, the river is almost aquamarine.

Nelson Canoe Club conservation officers Brandreth and Pauline Hervey say the Matakitaki would be rated "nationally significant" if such a rating system existed. "Paddlers will come back to this river again and again like few others."

Brandreth Hervey says the river is so well used, diverting it for hydro use would be comparable to taking away a big section of Nelson's Dun Mountain Track from mountainbikers, runners and walkers. The river is paddled by kayakers from around the country and can be run at any flow. He says the club is not anti-hydro, but feels there are other, more efficient ways of generating and managing power than destroying a "hugely important resource".

Steve Wood runs a luxury lodge, Korimako, in the Matakitaki Valley near the old hydro scheme at Six Mile. It has breathtaking views back down the valley to the Matiri Valley.His clients come from overseas for the wildness and the fishing.

"Do you know what the translation of Matakitaki is?" he asks. "To gaze at with admiration."

Wood doesn't want to think about that view polluted with lines carrying power from the valley to the outside world.

But, while he and his wife, Wendy, have spent energy, passion and money building up their business, he's adamant the financial impact that taming the Matakitaki for hydro would have on his business is not his main concern.

He moved to the area from the UK because of its "free-flowing rivers and what they mean". "It isn't about the money," he says repeatedly.

His concerns are mirrored by a group of tourism operators in Murchison's busy Rivers Cafe.

When asked what impact the schemes could have on tourism in the area, cafe owner Jude Alford doesn't hold back. "Wouldn't you say it would kill it?" she says. "I would say it would be dead, in a nutshell, wouldn't you?"

The others sitting round the table agree. It is the rivers and their wildness that draw visitors and keep pulling them back that is the common message.

The Matakitaki is vital because of its accessibility and fishing and kayaking opportunities.

Shirley Bigden, of Murchison Lodge, says she doesn't want to be seen as a "nimby" (not in my back yard) sort. She objects to the piecemeal approach to generation she sees.

"It's not just the Matiri and the Matakitaki. We had the Gowan last year, and the Mohikinui is happening on the West Coast. It seems like it's not about power. It's a lot of little schemes trying to make power so they can make money. I'm not sure why we would want to sell out New Zealand's biggest resource to make power."

Asked if there was any form of hydro they would accept, the group said they might be able to live with small "run of the river" schemes that take only 10 percent of the water.

"If the Matakitaki scheme was just 10 or 20 percent of the river, you could probably live with that, but 15 megawatts (the size of the stations being talked about by Network Tasman) is the whole river. That's 30 cumecs (cubic metres of water per second)," Wood says.

In Nelson, on a different but equally sunny day, Network Tasman chief executive Wayne Mackey explains why the Buller catchment, and the top of the south, needs to generate more electricity for itself.

Simply put, the South Island does not generate enough power to meet its needs now and into the future.

The top part is no exception. More power generated closer to Nelson is needed to secure the supply, meet growth and demand, and protect consumers from higher electricity prices.

Developing generation closest to where it is used avoids electricity being lost through lines when it is transmitted over long distances.

Mackey explains that hydro is attractive for generators, as it is proven and marries well with other sources like wind and solar.

It is also seen as renewable, which is important, as the Government, in a bid to mitigate climate change, has set a target of getting 90 percent of the country's power supply from renewable sources by 2025.

Mackey says other sources considered renewable, like solar and tide, are still too expensive to develop and are likely to remain so for at least the next five years.

Besides five publicly-identified hydro schemes under investigation in the top of the South Island - Trustpower's Wairau and Arnold schemes, Meridian's Mohikinui, New Zealand Energy's proposal for the Matiri and Network Tasman's idea for the Matakitaki - Mackey says he knows of three other schemes, but won't give details of what or where they are.

The Government's desire for renewable energy has been criticised from some quarters.

Nelson's Cawthron Institute sustainable business group manager Jim Sinner says it is likely to significantly increase pressure to dam or divert more New Zealand rivers, and has suggested in an investigation of the issue that it might be preferable to expand the capacity on rivers already dammed or diverted.

Mackey says Network Tasman was actively looking at schemes in the Buller years ago and had to abandon them after the electricity sector reforms of the 1990s, which prevented lines companies from generating power.

With those rules now relaxed, the company has bought between 200 and 300ha from two landowners in the Matakitaki Valley and is looking at the viability of developing the river for hydro purposes.

The company also intends looking at options for wind and solar generation, estimating it could supply 20,000 homes.

He is quick to point out the company is still in investigation mode, but says it is looking at the feasibility of running two 15MW stations on the river.

Whether the schemes would be run of the river, involve a dam, or be a combination of both is being looked at, he says.

The company aims to complete the pre-feasibility study by the middle of next year and if it decides to push on, it could be another one or two years before it applies for resource consent.

He thinks that most people will see the scheme as positive.

"It's going to reduce (transmission) loss. It's going to make the Nelson region self-sufficient and it will be good for development."

Mackey says he understands that some people would rather rivers be left as they are.

"We just can't lock everything up, because one day the lights will go out, unless we want to use coal or something like that, or go to nuclear generation."

Murchison District Community Council chairman and Tutaki Valley farmer Simon Blakemore says reaction to Network Tasman's plans is mixed, and not everyone feels as hot about the issue as those with a direct connection to the rivers.

While unable to judge which way the bulk of the community feels, he says many are reserving their judgment until they see details of what Network Tasman proposes.

Back at Rivers Cafe, concern remains.

The group is angry that the first word of the plan was when it appeared in the Nelson Mail, and want Network Tasman to meet with them and keep them informed so they can make informed submissions when the time comes.

"What amuses me is that I live up that valley, and no one's ever come and said, `This is what we propose doing'. That's what is the worst of it; they are treating us like imbeciles," Alford says.

There is even a suspicion that Murchison people are being asked to sacrifice their river for townies who view the place as "some kind of hellhole".

"The guy at the Network Tasman Trust meeting said he was thinking about the bigger picture. I think that's absolute nonsense," Wood says. "We are the ones thinking of the bigger picture. All he's thinking about is selling a bit more electricity and plugging in a few more TVs or something. We are talking about preserving our natural heritage for future generations."

"You've seen the town in winter," Shirley Bigden says. "That's what it would be like all year round if we lost the rivers and the tourism."

 

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