Opinion: Regional council keen to advise landowners on wetland restoration

Penny Gaylor.

Weekly column by Kāpiti's Greater Wellington Regional Council representative Penny Gaylor.

One of the most common topics around our GWRC council table these days is wetlands, and it's one of the most regular issues constituents are raising with me and my colleagues.

And as chairwoman of GWRC's environment committee, I'm making sure our meeting and workshop agendas are paying particular attention to the evolving requirements of central government that dictate much of what council is required to do.

So here is information to share on the topic of wetland management from our perspective.

There are only about 3 per cent of wetlands remaining in the Wellington region.

In working to protect and restore our wetlands, there are a range of national and regional policies, regulations and rules that provide direction and restrictions on what can and cannot be done within and around a wetland.

With so few of these unique habitats remaining, we support the restoration and protection of natural wetlands.

However, there is some confusion that I want to pick up on and clarify.

Landowners are not required to restore wetlands on their land unless they choose to.

If they choose to restore wetlands, they may need a consent for their restoration activity, except for restoration planting and pest control of appropriate species.

Restoration activity that involves changes to wetland hydrology, especially "re-wetting", needs to be managed carefully.

In some cases, it may pose a risk of flooding to neighbouring properties, or ecological harm. This is why a resource consent is usually required.

If you have a wetland on your property, or think you might have, GWRC wants to work with you. Having a wetland can affect what you can do on your property, and we are here to help you to understand what this means.

We also have resources and funding available to help you with identification and restoration.

There are a range of national and regional policies, regulations and rules that help to protect and improve natural wetlands. At the national level they include: the national policy statement for freshwater management 2020 (NPS-FM); the national environmental standards for freshwater 2020 (NES-F); and the Resource Management (Stock Exclusion) Regulations 2020.

GWRC is responsible for implementation, monitoring and compliance of resource management across the Wellington Region; for this we have the Proposed Natural Resources Plan (PNRP), which includes rules specific to wetlands. We are in the process of updating the PNRP to align with the current national regulations.