Land change worries

OPINION: I recently spent two days with the judging team that was assessing properties entered into the Ballance Farm Environment Awards. I was impressed with the talent and enthusiasm of the judges and the detail that they applied to the assessment process, writes Stuart Collie this week.

These awards are complementary to Environment Southland's own awards, which cover the wider spectrum of community activity, consistent with the responsibilities of a regional council. The properties that I visited were of a very high standard, and demonstrated the passion the owners had for values far greater than production alone.

All demonstrated the value of shelter that aided production and used a wide mix of species that was also aesthetically pleasing. It brought home to me the shortcomings of my own property, where a belated interest in shelter is not going to see me getting the benefit that these properties now enjoy from plantings that in some cases were a legacy of the previous generation.

Two of the properties were in multigenerational ownership that provides a sense of pride and protection that probably has yet to develop for new owners. It is from that perspective that I am concerned about the changes to the landscape that have been occurring from land use change, mainly to dairying, where wholesale removal of trees often seems to be the accepted practice.

I can understand the need to have practical fencing and tracking for their management, but I also note that properties that have been converted by existing owners, who were often responsible for the existing shelter, seem to have paddock systems that accommodate the original trees.

Environment Southland has noted public concern over shelter removal in Northern Southland. This is usually conveyed by members of the older generations who witnessed the dust storms of the early development days in that area, and were well aware that the shelter plantings subsidised by the catchment board were for the purposes of soil retention.

Land development over the past 50 years may have improved the soil structure so that it is much more stable, but many are still vexed to remember the subsidies paid to landowners for planting trees, which have now been chopped down.

Regrettably, most of the covenants have now expired so there is no way of requiring that public money to be paid back.

Like other councils, Environment Southland is drafting its annual plan. One of the issues that's most exercising our minds is the recovery of the cost of providing the necessary science around the region's water resources.

To date, the annual cost of this research has been met by the general ratepayer. The consensus of the councillors favours reconsiding the appropriateness of this method of funding, because large-scale water abstractors are the reason why we need to ascertain the quantum of the resource before any further abstraction can be considered. As water managers, we have to be confident that it is not over-allocated, while water users must be assured that when they commit capital for irrigation, industry and urban distribution, their needs will be fulfilled. Other large-scale projects are being planned for the region, and will almost certainly be water hungry.

It is far more appropriate to be ahead of the game than to be caught like Environment Canterbury, where the public has lost faith in the process being used to manage the resource. Many are surprised to learn than Southland has limited groundwater available and is already at a point where further allocation will have to be restricted unless we can have definite proof of sufficiency.

Many also find it hard to accept that the water that underlies their property is not their own for the taking, but all extractions have an effect on connected streams and rivers.

Correspondence through the media indicates a wide community interest in water for all its recreational qualities, as compared to potential industrial use.

We must learn more about our region's water resources, and this comes at a price. The means by which the acquisition of this knowledge is funded will, I have no doubt, be a contentious issue that will be debated during the annual plan consultation process.wStuart Collie is chairman of the regional council, Environment Southland

- © Fairfax NZ News

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