Waikato Plan Change 1 litigation nears conclusion after 12 years
Following twelve years of litigation, a conclusion could be in sight of Waikato’s controversial Plan Change 1 (PC1).
Waikato Regional Council has secured $2.17 million in funding for three catchment-scale projects and the Council’s new Māori medium environmental educational programme.
The funding comes from the Waikato River Authority (WRA) and is for projects involving landowners, iwi and community groups, with project management by Waikato Regional Council.
It includes $1.34 million over three years towards stage two of the Council’s partnership Ngā Wai o Waikato project in the lower Waikato River catchment to support landowners wishing to retire and plant erodible hill country and stream margins and retire forest remnants.
Also included in the funding is $402,739 over three years to the new central Waikato hill country and streambank erosion protection and remediation project in partnership with Ngāti Hauā Mahi Trust.
A further $331,200 over three years will go towards the Kura Waiti ki Kura Waita (River Schools to Moana Schools) programme to develop and implement an advancing mātauranga māori kaupapa in environmental education.
The programme was launched earlier this year as the result of a search for a meaningful way to support children with environmental learning in a way that supported te reo, tikanga and mātauranga, says Kaihapa Hotaka Mātauranga Arna Solomon-Banks.
“Kura Waitī is about engaging our rangatahi in fun ways, hands on, on the awa, learning about the tikanga of waka and the mātauranga, the stories of the awa from the awa people, and sharing that reliving.”
Waikato and West Coast catchments manager Grant Blackie says that by applying for funding from organisations like WRA, it gives security to projects over multiple years and gives landowners the incentive to go above and beyond the environmental work they might normally do.
“This means, in the past five years, we have jointly been able to financially assist 1,823 landowners by offering greater incentives for fencing and planting or hill country erosion work than if we were to rely just on the rates we collect for catchment management,” he says.
The council is also a co-funder (to a total of $112,560) of three other projects to receive WRA funding. They are:
- Waikato River Care’s Opuatia Wetland project, which supports wider work in the catchment and wetland
- Stage 2 of the Mangaorongo Stream Restoration Project
- Te Puea Hērangi wetland restoration project with Tūrangawaewae Trust Board and Fonterra.
Newly elected Federated Farmers meat and wool group chair Richard Dawkins says he will continue the great work done his predecessor Toby Williams.
Hosted by ginger dynamo Te Radar, the Fieldays Innovation Award Winners Event put the spotlight on the agricultural industry's most promising ideas.
According to DairyNZ's latest Econ Tracker update, there has been a rise in the forecast breakeven milk price for the 2025/26 season.
Despite the rain and a liberal coating of mud, engines roared, and the 50th Fieldays Tractor Pull Competition drew crowds of spectators across the four days of the annual event.
Nationwide rural wellbeing programme, Farmstrong recently celebrated its tenth birthday at Fieldays with an event attended by ambassador Sam Whitelock, Farmers Mutual Group (FMG), Farmstrong partners, and government Ministers.
Six industry organisations, including DairyNZ and the Dairy Companies Association (DCANZ) have signed an agreement with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to prepare the country for a potential foot and mouth outbreak.
OPINION: ACT MP Mark Cameron isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but he certainly calls it how he sees it, holding…
OPINION: Did former PM Jacinda Ardern get fawning reviews for her book?