HE CAME BEARING TREES...
Waimea Inlet is facing threats from silt, sewage, industrial waste and agricultural runoff. So Forestry Minister Shane Jones came to Hoddy Estuary Park promising $1 million to fund 70,000 trees that will help fight the damage.
More than 70,000 native trees are to be planted over the next three years to help restore the Waimea Inlet.
The announcement was made by Forestry Minister Shane Jones on Wednesday under heavy rain during a tree planting event at Hoddy Estuary Park, about 23 kilometres southwest of Nelson.
More than $1 million was committed to the project, with the investment coming from the $240m grants and partnership fund as part of the Government’s One Billion Trees programme.
Jones said the inlet was under threat due to excess silt from land clearance, and pollution from sewage, industrial waste and agricultural runoff.
A Tasman District Council and NIWA study released in 2018 found that recently harvested pine forests along with bank erosion were responsible for a high proportion of sediment in the inlet.
Coverage of very soft mud in the inlet soared from 10ha in 1999 to 551ha in 2013. Jones said he was horrified by the increase.
‘‘The reality is these are legacy industries; people have behaved in a way they believed they were permitted to do,’’ he said.
‘‘I genuinely believe that we’re in a new time, that the owners of land and the owners of forestry realise that society’s got a different set of expectations perhaps than those which I grew up [with] from the 1950s.’’
Other estuaries in New Zealand faced similar problems, ‘‘which is why a substantial amount of the pu¯ tea [money] ... is dedicated to rehabilitating estuarine areas, rivers and water quality’’.
‘‘So my challenge to people who love the Waimea is ... get business and industry involved so they see this as a part of the social licence they should endeavour to protect.’’
The long-running Tasman Environmental Trust applied to the One Billion Trees programme for funding for the project, which it would manage. Deputy chairman Gavin O’Donnell said 33ha would be planted with mostly large, native trees over 5m tall. It was hoped the planting would begin this year.
‘‘It’s a big project but we’re absolutely delighted to be successful in getting the funding to enable this to happen,’’ O’Donnell said.
‘‘[The project] has been developed with the assistance of key stakeholders and the many community groups working collaboratively to improve the environment around the Waimea Inlet.’’
Agriculture Minister and West Coast-Tasman MP Damien O’Connor said it was ‘‘nice to bring Jonesy down here because he’s always got a bit of pu¯ tea’’.
When asked if he believed it was politically acceptable for the Bell Island wastewater treatment plant to continue discharging treated wastewater into the inlet, O’Connor said there were ‘‘hundreds of such consents around the country and as part of the whole fresh water and coastal management objectives of Government, we’ve got to address both rural and urban impacts on water’’.
Jones announced on the same day that Kellys Forest would be receiving 5000 native trees for the second year in a row.
Lindy Kelly, who with her family and volunteers has planted seven hectares of farmland with native plants, said the donated trees added to other donations and community efforts would make about 9000 trees planted in the forest.