twinkles Posted August 31, 2009 Report Share Posted August 31, 2009 Just spoke to the council man and i am fuming! :evil: :evil: :evil: Their new plan is to clear every tiny peice of vegetation, fill in all the swampland, raise the level of the land and eventually replant a little strip of cabbage trees. That means our precious little swamp will go, all the native bush there will go, and we'll have a grassy paddock left. Its being promoted as flood protection work but the main motivation is to have a nice grassy feild that the school will maintain. What can we do? There's me and two neighbours who are up in arms over this, and will be talking to everyone they can in town about it, and one of them is going to arrange some iwi support, but anyone have any ideas for an action plan? They want to start clearing it next month, and i'm sure we can at least stall them with the people we have until they take a better look at things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cricketman Posted August 31, 2009 Report Share Posted August 31, 2009 get together with the neighbours and anyone else who will join you, and loby the council, then lobby your local mp, then lobby the council advisors. keep the preessure on, get organised, they hate it when you get organised! they will have to have some sort of notification and a resource consent process would surely be coming through before they can do anything! find special interest groups in your area, even greenpeace or forest and bird, write to them and tell them what is happening and why the area is important to you. local iwi even can help in regard to building a case of historical and natural importance. Do some study on what is in the area, focusing on native fauna and flora, birds, fish, etc, and put that in your document. petition the local area using this information! Get a local colledge or polyteh student to do some research for you too. there are many avenues that you can take to protect your swamp. find a pohutakawa or other protected tree amoungst it and your set! lol the fight has just begun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted August 31, 2009 Report Share Posted August 31, 2009 Right, go and talk to: DOC your local Forest and Bird chair These guys might be able to help: http://www.wetlandtrust.org.nz/ Try and get a gee-minnow trap from DOC so you can properly trap and see what is in there. Getting iwi support is a great idea. Start a petition. Find some local birdwatcher or DOC people to identify if it is used by native birds. Get the Forest and Bird and local school keen to help restore it as a functioning wetland. Forest and Bird should have contacts for places that provide plants etc. (I am on the local F&B committee and we have a meeting tonight, I might ask for some advice on what you can do if we have time) Wetlands are GOOD for flood protection. That is what they DO. They soak up and store extra water and sediment during floods. They also buffer against droughts. Drained wetlands are usually still wetlands.... in waiting. They are creating something that will need work to keep it as a paddock. Good on you Twinkles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdspider Posted August 31, 2009 Report Share Posted August 31, 2009 Wetlands are GOOD for flood protection. That is what they DO. They soak up and store extra water and sediment during floods. They also buffer against droughts. This was my first thought too. Don't some councils give farmers grants to revert a paddock or 2 back into wetlands? Make up your minds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milky Posted August 31, 2009 Report Share Posted August 31, 2009 lay down in the mud and not move untill the can sort things out isn't that what the hippies did? and im sure they can't beat you like they used to although tasers could hurt if your feet are in water lol id volenteer but its cold abd im too far away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted August 31, 2009 Report Share Posted August 31, 2009 Contact the news media too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livingart Posted August 31, 2009 Report Share Posted August 31, 2009 put some mudfish in there then claim it as threaened habitat i am not advocating you do this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted September 1, 2009 Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 and one of them is going to arrange some iwi support, Find a taniwha? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oeminx Posted September 1, 2009 Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 put some mudfish in there then claim it as threaened habitat i am not advocating you do this I was thinking the same thing :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted September 1, 2009 Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 Fight for it. As mentioned, swamps and wetlands play a major part in flood protection. Look at New Orleans as an example. They drained and filled the swamps that would have normally soaked up excess floodwaters. What happened? Hundreds lost their homes and livelyhoods.. I know its a huge difference in comparison, but if they did it to every swamp we would be buggered. I will gladly sign a petition for you, (im coming up through Taumaranui in a months time) Rotten swines is all they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cricketman Posted September 1, 2009 Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 id actually love the oppertunity to do some research on the area and bite into some legal conservation! but i got my own project here to finish first :oops: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinkles Posted September 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 been trying to post all day but it wont work... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinkles Posted September 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 Yah! At last! I kept getting an error so i couldn't reply :evil: Their plan to get rid of the swamp is to raise the whole level of the land 1/2-1metre. Just been reading that wetlands site and the doc one, lots of good stuff there thanks, then i had a look at the horizons site (horizons is the regional council doing this) and they had a huge amount of info on the importance of swamps and wetlands, and about how wonderful they are at protecting them (two faced liers). Neighbours are all angry about it, and ready to stop any council person getting anywhere near the place Will be talking to someone at the local paper to see if we can convince them to do a story on it, and i'm going fishing later to see what i can find living there. Big thanks for all the suggestions, i'll use them all and we're determined to stop this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkfur Posted September 1, 2009 Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 if they want to grow cabbage trees they shouldn't get rid of the swamp. Cabbies love swamps. Maybe ask them if they would like to leave the swamp as is and add a few cabbage trees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinkles Posted September 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 have tried to ring our local doc, but there's no one there today, will try another office when i get a ph card for the toll call :-? no resource consents or anything are needed, because its partly private land (ours and neighbours) and partly land they can't trace an owner for. I went through and photographed every native i could find, there's so many lovely big cabbage trees, nikaus etc there. Also working on marking them all on the aireal map of it. All the tuis, faintails etc that visit our house live and breed there, where would they go without it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinkles Posted September 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 the cabbage trees will all be removed and single row of them planted at the end along the edge of the river, for 'asthetic apeal'. here's a shot of one of the big ones thats there now which they want gone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinkles Posted September 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 and here's "our" swamp, if you haven't seen it Its a shame its too early in the year for the birds to be nesting, a few pics of the tuis and fantails breeding in those trees would surely stand in their favour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cricketman Posted September 1, 2009 Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 if they cant trace an owner, then that doesnt mean that they can do whatever they like to it! in fact just the oposite, if it is privately owned then they can butt out! and, resource consents still apply to private land! so they will have to get a consent anyway! any major earthworks must be consented! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted September 1, 2009 Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 Try emailing the DOC office and asking that they call you, as you cannot afford daytime toll calls? I was in that position once and asked a friend (who just happens to be the local regional manager of DOC) and he said that was totally appropriate. Good idea taking all the photographs! To me that looks just beautiful! I am envious of you having this on your doorstep. Chances are the council had no idea you guys cared, and probably thought you would like all that rubbish and scrub removed. Why is the council involved if it is private land? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinkles Posted September 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 i'm going to go to the council in the morning and see what i can find out, and book an appointment to see the mayor about it. The privately owned part is land that was marked as sections in about 1900, when the rest of the town was chopped up and sold, but there's no record of anyone ever owning those ones. There was supposed to be 5 sections behind ours, then a road, then the river, but before that happened the river moved slightly and now flows where the road is supposed to be. Its still a paper road on the district maps etc, and on our lim report. We own one chunk of the land, covering the back of our house and the neighbours, and another neighbour own the next piece, then the rest is unaccounted for, the council would love to know if someone does own it so they can start collecting rates lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinkles Posted September 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 regional council is involved as its 'flood protection work', between the swamp and our houses is a big stop bank for floods. Good idea i'll email doc The council knew exactly what we wanted and thought, when we spoke to them several times 2 months ago they were all for keeping the swamp and just removing the pest trees. I'm very glad that i didn't trust them and rang up for an update, otherwise i wouldn't have known what was happening until the contractors arrived. And had also mentioned my concerns to a few other locals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted September 1, 2009 Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 If you pay the rates eventually you can apply to own it I think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinkles Posted September 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 so i should start paying the rates on it somehow? I wish lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkfur Posted September 1, 2009 Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 not absolutely sure but I think in many cases you need a resource consent to tamper with certain species of native trees, probably depends on your local authority Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted September 1, 2009 Report Share Posted September 1, 2009 Any green and gold tree frogs (Litoria aurea)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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