Tom Kay has been Forest & Bird's Manawatū/Whanganui manager. Photo / supplied
Tom Kay has been Forest & Bird's Manawatū/Whanganui manager. Photo / supplied
Government wants clear rules to protect native bush, birds, lizards, insects - and the Horizons Region needs them, Forest & Bird's Tom Kay says.
He's been watching forest, tussock and wetland disappear nationwide, and says the situation is desperate.
"We are almost past the breaking point. These are the lastremaining fragments of native bush across our country, and we are still clearing them out."
There was 35,440ha of mānuka and kanuka forest cleared in the Horizons Region between 2012 and 2018, to make way for pasture and exotic forest, Forest & Bird says.
To Whanganui Federated Farmers president Mike Cranstone the clearance is just ongoing pasture maintenance. He is seeing farmers partner with Horizons Regional Council to fence off areas of native bush and wetland.
The Resource Management Act is supposed to protect indigenous biodiversity, but the way it has been interpreted varies from council to council, Kay said. The result has been court battles, often between Federated Farmers and Forest & Bird.
Former Environment Minister Nick Smith wanted to clarify the rules. The Biodiversity Collaborative Group was set up, with Federated Farmers and Forest & Bird among the members.
"Today 80 per cent of native birds, 88 per cent of lizards and 100 per cent of frogs are threatened with extinction. Ecologically significant vegetation and habitat on private land is being lost at a rate comparable to pre-1840 deforestation.
"31,000 ha of tussock grassland, 24,000 ha of indigenous shrubland, and 16,000 ha of indigenous forest were cleared across New Zealand in the 16-year period from 1996 to 2012," a statement from the group said.
The members met for two years, and produced recommendations refined by Government and released for consultation on November 26.
A series of regional meetings were held throughout New Zealand, and about 50 people attended the one in Whanganui. Submissions on the recommendations closed this week.
The recommendations are that councils find and map their significant natural areas, and that landowners will then need consent to clear or change them.
Some have called the move a "landgrab" and intrusion on private property rights. Kay said that is scaremongering because landowners will still be able to do what they want - except for clearing those areas.
Wanganui Federated Farmers president Mike Cranstone. Photo / Bevan Conley
But Cranstone fears every block of native vegetation will be deemed a significant natural area.
"We can't afford to go out there trying to save everything, everywhere. It's unrealistic," he said.
The process of identifying and mapping the areas will be expensive for ratepayers. Kay would like Government to pay for it.
Cranstone said the process could use up the resource available for protection.
"Nothing will be achieved if we identify it all but don't have any resources to save it."
Horizons does have rules about land clearance. It is not allowed in habitats deemed rare, at-risk or threatened. The council's land clearance flow chart takes into account factors like steep slope, land within 5m of waterways, vegetation more than seven years old and clearance of more than 1ha a year.
Often the land cleared is steep and will make only marginal pasture, Forest & Bird spokesman Tom Kay says. Satellite image / supplied
Despite those rules Kay is seeing mānuka and kanuka forest cleared on steep land that will make only marginal pasture. He said not every landowner looks at the flow chart, and the council may not be monitoring compliance or enforcing the rules.
"It's really frustrating that we have a regional council that has done a lot of work on sustainable land use and then we have landowners that still want to get more out of their land."
People in this region still feel they are "breaking in the land", he said.
"The big thing, really, is about making sure people value that habitat."
For Cranstone wildlife corridors are preferable to "locking up large blocks of land", and they allow farming to continue.
"I think farmers, along with Horizons, are understanding the country's expectations. Together we can work to incorporate those goals within our farming business," he said.
