On the Cust

Saving the lagoon

And so the tumult and the shouting die while the people take time to consider. In the meantime, what of Waituna?
  The last report was that the catchment farmers had decided to go it alone, because they "know their land"., while DairyNZ, having found a scapegoat to let the rest of the industry off the hook, has swiftly moved off stage.
  The trouble, of course, is that most of the farmers don't "know the land" in this context. Most are new to intensive dairy farming and many are new to the catchment. Even with the best of intentions , it's hard to see them contributing too much to the health of the lagoon.
  Things have gone too far for that. There is a need for serious science and serious money beyond the reach of the individual farmer, and no sign whatever that the industry intends to supply either if it can help it. By its nature, Waituna was always going to be the bellwether for an intensive dairy system that had so many people worried.
  The industry, fixated by its self anointed title of "best in the world" and bouyed by Government support and monopoly, has only ever been interested in production.
  Downstream consequences have been left to take care of themselves, so if the industry won't take that responsibility, someone else must.
  That someone has to be Environment Southland.
  We have councillors who have grasped the nettle and skilled staff who know science.
  We owe them our support.

JOHN PUREY-CUST
Gore

Waituna farmers talk turkey to Tuckey

In fact, it's not all Waituna farmers, and they're addressing everyone at Environment Southland, we councilors in particular, but we don't want to hog the headline :-)

 "We will not tolerate being railroaded with Draconian regulations, and ES needs to develop a positive attitude toward farmers.
"We are sick of the insinuation that we are ALL polluters."

Ray McCrostie lets fly in today's Opinion column of the Southland Times, and batters the regional council around the paddock for a bit, before declaring that his new group, Waituna Farmers United, are up and running and will sort the Waituna lagoon issue, unlike those inactive procrastinators in the 'bureaucratic black hole that is the ES boardroom.' (Does Mr McCrostie write this stuff himself, or is Don Nicholson moonlighting as his ghost-writer?)
It's stirring stuff and there are great lines from the group's spokesperson.

"At that point, those in the farming fraternity said, "Whoa".

"Now there's more than one way we can play this".

"We are up and running at a time when ES was banking on us being too busy to care".

What this all adds to the debate is unclear, but there's a website we can visit to learn more.

Don't say Dirty Dairying

That's the message from Nick Smith who believes that the public don't want to hear that kind of dirty talk. He's told Bryce Johnson of Fish & Game NZ to give up the old battle to clean up the rivers and just trust the Government. National, says Smith, has sternly told regional councils to get it sorted and by golly they will...eventually, but the F&G chief executive is not convinced and neither is anyone else who has been watching the deterioration of the rivers (Manawatu anyone?) and the explosion of dairying throughout the country. Here in Southland, we're in for it - our cow numbers have shot up frighteningly - we're now supporting six and a half times as many dairy cows as we had six years ago. Waituna is testament to what can result from that sort of development.
"No natural system can support that number of cows."
Many rivers, including the Manawatu, Rakaia and Waikato, were under threat, Bryce said.
Federated Farmers water issues spokesman Ian MacKenzie said farmers were as keen as any group to improve water
quality.
"Nobody wants to see Lake Taupo turn into a cesspit."
However, pollution came from many sources, including industry and urban development.
"This just seems to be grandstanding."

Grandstanding indeed.

Labour's water spokesman, Brendon Burns, said the report made a mockery of Government promises to improve water quality.
"Nick Smith has ripped the guts out of the inquiry advice, and ... his handling of this actually means water quality across our streams, rivers and lakes will continue to get worse."

The Greens signalled the same thing well before the release of the national policy for freshwater management. "Toothless" was a phrase that seemed to suit and that's seemingly what we've now got - a direction to get on with the job and a set of gums to do it with.

The Stuff report is here and it's well worth reading.

Letters I like

This letter from a P. Clifford of Invercargill in today's Southland Times is the kind that makes me feel that there are many people in our community that know what democracy is all about. Titled 'Preconceived ideas' slur is laughable' by the Times, the letter says:
"So the former head of Environment Southland is concerned that Cr Robert Guyton may have had some preconceived ideas on the environment before he was voted in?
  Laughable.
  Doesn't he realise that's why I and many others voted for him in the first place?
  Does anyone think maybe that Stuart Collie had his own preconceived ideas when he was voted in considering his former background in the farming lobby group Federated Farmers?
  Look at the state of our environment and ask yourself just what kind of job he did when he was running the show.
  I say we need more like Robert."

That's a very encouraging letter, both at a personal level and where it shows that people are looking to see what really is happening in their own backyards and not just accepting the assurances of those who have been elected to plum positions. In saying that, I'll post all letters that come in on the subject and expect that there will be some that don't echo P.Clifford's and present a different view. That's what it's all about!

Kennedy kicks Collie

Green candidate and soon-to-be MP for Invercargill Dave Kennedy has taken off the gloves and is raining blows down upon those he says are responsible for the Waituna 'situation' - first up, the farmers who did what has been done to the catchment, and secondly Kennedy's old adversary Stuart Collie, ex-chairman of Environment Southland. The straight-shooting Green says:

"Past Environment Southland Councils operated very much like a branch of Federated Farmers and the previous chair, Stuart Collie, openly supported the philosophy that the environment had to take second place to economic growth."

Environment minister Nick Smith has been taking aim at the decisions made by the 'old council' too and is rumbling away not-quite-below the surface, with not-so-subtle threats to the council's future. Both Dave Kennedy and I were active and vocal challengers to the decisions and statements made by Collie during his reigh as chairman of Environment Southland and it's most interesting to find that Collie's legacy did not disappear from the scene when he did.

http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.com/2011/07/dairying-is-problem.html

Eric's (soft) response to Waituna

Eric Roy's been caught on the hop over Waituna, through the 'letters to the editor' column of the Southland Times and around the blogs. He had nothing at all on his website from anytime during the time he's been in Government but has finally put up a post. It talks about the 'Fresh Start for Freshwater' report and that's about all. While there's some value in that, waving a report in front of the lagoon (imagine the photo opportunity there Eric!) isn't enough by any stretch of the imagination.

Russel's Waituna report

"One of the principles that I try to follow in my job is that I don’t change the message depending on the audience; maybe change the emphasis or they way I tell it, but I aim not to change the fundamentals. With this in mind I found myself recently sitting in a small community hall in the middle of the farmland that forms the catchment of the Waituna Lagoon, to the east of Invercargill."

That's right, he tells it as he sees it. Russel's report posted on Frogblog and open for comments, is thorough and interesting. Eric. You'd benefit from having a good read of what Russel has written :-)

Fun and games (more letters re: Russel)

Some hard-bitten citified Nat flunky said this in today's Times:


Photo opportunity?

Why are we commenting on another politician who doesn't know what he's talking about; taking a 'photo-opportunity' which then gave rise to asking where Eric Roy was.
  What really matters is did Russel Norman actually come up with any solid means to combat the degradation to the Waituna Lagoon?
  Or is it just that he wanted his pikkie in the local rag, just to show us poor Southland cousins that Wellington-based Greenies do actually know where we are, and that they do recognise that there is a problem.
  They don't actually have any good ideas, but lets pontificate a bit in the public eye.
  Now let me ask all who are interested, was this just a photo-opportunity? Methinks so.

PETE SAYERS
Invercargill

Naturally, I replied:

Dr. Russel Norman of the Greens doesn't lead his party from the comfortable seat of a ministerial BMW. His great concern, and that of the Greens, is with the state of the environment in New Zealand, so he gets out onto the rivers up and down the country to see up-close what's happening to them. His day at Waituna Lagoon, which Mr Roy and his cohorts would like to paint as a photo-opportunity, was spent meeting with concerned scientists, farmers, iwi, Land Care members, councillors and Environment Southland and Department of Conservation staff, hearing their concerns and views about the lagoon. Dr. Norman has a science background and was quick to understand the challenges presented to him. He was also forthright in giving his own views on what needed to be done to stop the damage being done to Waituna. What he didn't mention was the huge contribution the Green Party has already made to wetland protection throughout New Zealand – an $8.8 million contribution in fact. The reaction from those who weren't there at the meetings and out on the lagoon, who claim that the Green leader was merely looking for a 'photo-op' looks, smells and tastes to me like sour grapes, or in the case of Waituna lagoon, sour mud.

Fence-posts Feds

Comments made by Federated Farmers' chairman Don Nicolson on CUE TV about the Waituna Lagoon reveal the serious disconnect from reality he and his federation of farmers suffer.

His denial of the obvious and refusal to accept the science around the state of the lagoon make sensible people cringe. Bluntly defending the actions of his 'team' and deflecting the blame 'somewhere else' isn't going to save the lagoon from ruination. A man in his position should show leadership other than than being the first to duck for cover.

Saving lagoon is up to us: Norman

 An excellent report in today's Southland Times (page  - reproduced here in full) on Russel's visit to the Waituna wetland on Saturday. The only thing the Times left out was the photo credit to Dave Kennedy.

 Saving lagoon is up to us: Norman

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman donned a wetsuit, jumped in his kayak and paddled the Waituna Lagoon at the weekend as part of his dirty-and-threatened-rivers tour.
Dr Norman had planned to visit the Oreti River but the crisis at Waituna was more important, he said.
He had visited the lagoon before, and said the changes that had occurred since were not visible to the eye.
"I think a lot of the changes that are happening require a closer look rather than a cursory once-over. It is still a beautiful place to go and hang out. It is a great asset we want to hang on to."
Dr Norman said the area was "obviously in great distress", and this was essentially because of too much nitrogen and phosphorous sediment getting into the lagoon.
"The impact of that is you are getting a buildup of algae and the die-back of fresh water plants that live on the bottom of the lagoon."
The danger was that the lagoon could "flip", becoming a muddy, non-aerated environment that would not support what lived there.
Currently the lagoon supported a lot of invertebrates, fish and birds, Dr Norman said.
"We have to dramatically cut the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous sediment and primarily that goes back to agricultural practices in the catchment where it is all coming from," he said.
Dr Norman said it was possible to turn the situation around and prevent the lagoon from flipping.
He compared it to patients in the emergency department of a hospital – they can either live or die.
"And it really depends on us which way it goes. It is in our hands to save the lagoon."
Dr Norman had met Department of Conservation and Environment Southland staff on Saturday, and had also met some of the local farmers and the landcare group.
"They feel very passionately about protecting the lagoon. There are some really tough changes that need to be made and they recognise the size of the challenge they face."
The next step was to take emergency measures during winter and get an idea of the size of the cut in nitrogen needed. He estimated about 50 per cent, and "strong rules" would be needed to achieve that.
Dr Norman said the National Policy Statement on Freshwater needed to be signed off by the Government and the rules must not be weakened.
kimberley.crayton-brown@stl.co.nz

Is this your Leader?

Action man Green Party Co-leader Russel Norman, suited-up and not afraid of the world outside of the House. Could your MPs match his chutzpah and pizzaz?
Can you imagine Gerry Brownlee in one of these skins? (two of them maybe :-)
Russel slipped into a kayak as well and paddled out into the Waituna Lagoon today, seemingly unafraid of the choppy conditions and brisk winds. Even riskier for a Green Party MP was the meeting with all-comers he attended in the heart of Eric Roy country and his openness in discussing farming's role in the degradation of the Waituna lagoon. He was very well received because he was alert and well researched, engaging with dairy farmers and scientists alike with the same open manner and willingness to learn and state his beliefs frankly.
His visit to the lagoon has raised the Greens standing in the South by a significant degree, in my opinion. To see his Cue TV interview, and the one I did following Russel's piece, you'll need to tune in on Monday night. I'm not sure if Russel said the controversial things I did but I'll find out when it goes to air.
Dave Kennedy does a brilliant write-up of the day's events here.

Calling the Feds!

There are many people in the community who find the tactics used by the Federated Farmers 'blunt' and 'simplistic' to put it politely. 'Bull-at-a-gate' seems to be a common summation of the approach taken by the Feds to many issues.
The comment below was made by a visitor to this blog earlier today and resulted from a post that described the Southern Branch of the Feds calling for a peer review of the science thus far collected re Waituna Lagoon. With the author's kind permission, I've dragged it out into 'front of house' to see if it resonates with other readers. If it does, or if you disagree with Piwakawaka's view, you are very welcome to put in your two cents worth.

The refusal to accept science, and to challenge it is a tactic long-used by NZ's commercial fishing industry - and this is no different from the Feds.

I have worked alongside the feds for many years through a variety of issues and topics, and the constant vitriol, attacks, lies and aggression have staggered me, and frankly, no longer surprise me. I also have many farmer friends who refuse to join them, because of their dinosaur-like attitudes to the environment. It's no wonder their membership is dropping.

So tell me, how come the Feds, with a mere 20 000 members get so much airplay and 'power', when an outfit like Forest & Bird with 70 000 members has to push hard to even be heard?

Smith to go head to head with dairy farmers

Yeah right! But as I predicted, Nick Smith has taken the opportunity presented by the news that the Waituna Lagoon is on the brink of collapse, to haul his undies on over his suit trousers and swing into super-action, to save the day. What a feather in the Government's cap it would be if Nick Nitro could halt the Ecological Disaster unfolding in Southland - and all in an election year!
Hoorah!
I sincerely hope his is able to save the lagoon.
Vaughan Templeton and his dairy farming 'environmentalists' will be quaking in their gumboots!

Southlanders don't like it!

The comments on the Southland Times story about the effects of dairying on the Waituna lagoon are harsh and not painting a pretty picture. If they are indicative of the public mood, there are going to be heads rolling soon!

Glenys Dickson   #1   04:12 pm Feb 15 2011

Thank you Mr Tullet. Great to have some straight talking on the Waituna Lagoon issue. Our Territorial Authorities need to be held accountable. It is not just the Waituna Lagoon that is under threat. Why are we allowing intensive deer and dairy farming along the Upukaroa River that runs directly into Lake Te Anau??. Development of native vegetation on hill country that protects water quality.

(Glenys is Bill English's 'office person' at the Gore electorate office)

Dave   #8   12:53 pm Feb 15 2011

Oliver - good job! Keep on planting! That is a different issue altogether, but it is great to protect the riparian zone. Re- finances to F&G - great smokescreen Kevin! Bring out the fact that your great forebearers worked the land and maybe drop in stories of meat pies too... anything to skirt the issue. Now, high nutrient loading is a completely different issue. Key point - trout are simply an indicator species of the ecosystem. If the ecosystem goes so far downhill that the aquatic plant and insect life is decimated, trout suffer. By that point, you have serious, long term impacts. New Zealand is teetering on a serious precipice - to continue to issue permits perpetually in a 'do anything for profit' ideal, or take heed of the bigger issue - long term cumulative impacts and determine if they are acceptable. Remember, if water isn't clean enough for trout, how long until it is not fit for humans, and what end result does that bring? New Zealand is no longer the green country it sells foreginers. With tourism being such a high factor in GDP, you might want to consider that. And, in the international communinty, if you are perceived to be a rape and pillage country, it won't take too much longer under current methods until boycotts begin. Give it 10 years at the rate of environmental over use and destruction. And once that worm turns, it will be generations before it comes back.

Blunt words for the Feds

Southland Times editorials are a mixed bunch, due to the rotation of the authors but it's usually apparent when the best of them writes. Today's titled 'Bluntly speaking' is a good one and addresses the antediluvian comments made yesterday over the need for action to protect the Waituna lagoon from destruction.

Bluntly speaking

OPINION: Sometimes blunt instruments are just exactly what you need. That's why you'll find them in toolboxes and sheds – for tasks that needn't, or shouldn't, or just plain can't be carried out with surgical precision and exquisite delicacy.
Federated Farmers needn't expend effort trying to convince anybody that it would be, as Southland dairy chairman Vaughan Templeton says, a "blunt instrument approach" if Environment Southland were to permit any more dairy development around the increasingly degraded Waituna Lagoon.
Of course it would be. We get that. But Mr Templeton needs to understand that we're at the stage now where the public find themselves looking longingly for a heavy hand to come into play.
For pity's sake, this is not a problem that has come upon us by stealth, only now to be revealed in all its horror. Warning voices have long since grown hoarse. This problem has existed for years, and deteriorated badly right before our eyes and, yes, on our watch.
So the invitation should issue to anyone who seeks to persuade the regional council, or for that matter the rest of Southland, against the notion that we need to act quickly and decisively, that they better make their case sharpishly.Mr Templeton says the federation would rather see farming carried out under conditions that "try to minimise" the problem.
We should have a care with what we accept when we talk about minimisation.
This cannot be one of those cases where there's either a tacit or explicit understanding that, Jeez, there's only so much you can do.
Waituna is a precious wetland of international significance, and widely enjoyed by locals as well as visitors. It's an important habitat for birds, fish and, OK, eels. It is also home to unusual plants and has a useful regulating role, soaking up water after heavy rain.
It's been said that wetlands are the earth's kidneys; in which case Waituna is getting perilously close to renal failure, going from a clear-water ecosystem to a murky, algae-dominated, deadened disgrace.
Environment Southland is far from uninterested in mitigation tactics, but we have to acknowledge that this is hardly new thinking.
The Waituna Landcare Group already exists and has been working hard to address the problem, but there is scant environmental indication to rebut a suggestion of tippytoeing around the essential problem.
The regional council is considering not only halting further dairy farm development in the catchment, but also thumping much weightier controls on existing dairying operations.
You won't find many Southlanders throwing up their hands in horror at such a thought.
Environment Southland's chairwoman Ali Timms says co-operation from landowners and government agencies is needed.
Is there even time? Sometimes, if you ignore a problem it actually does go away.
The less often cited flipside of that is that if you ignore a solution, it can go away, too.
Waituna needs to be saved. That's a big ask, and the solution is liable to require Environment Southland to be ungentle.
- The Southland Times

Mr Templeton will be feeling a little set-upon I imagine (especially if he's read the comments section of yesterday's article) and he ought to, in my opinion. His response was not a wise one. Revealing, but not wise.

* Comments section from yesterday' story has some pointed advice.

Brigitte   #7   06:20 pm Feb 14 2011

Its not just Waituna that needs protection from the cows, the whole of Southland does with all its water-ways and tributarys etc. Sh*t is just that -sh*t, and with cows its is abundant. It literally runs out of them, gone are the days off a good old firm cowpat, not to mention the stuff that ends up on the cow pads and in the dairy shed, all hosed down with huge quantities of water and respread over the pasture! Water goes one way on land - down! And eventually it seeps into the ground water. No matter what the dairy giants or farmers do to minimise it, cow waste will always end up in the water supply somewhere, that is if there is enough of it left after they have sucked most of it out to help run and clean the dairy shed. Back to beef and sheep I say!

Sh*t hits fan

Front page of the Southland Times - Waituna - under immediate threat!


Iconic wetlands in jeopardy

"Environment Southland might try to halt further dairy farm development in the Waituna catchment in a bid to prevent the area's internationally significant lagoon from suffering irreversible damage."

That's right. We might. Must even.

Spokesperson for the dairy farmers, Vaughan Templeton, unsurprisingly, disagrees.

"Federated Farmers Southland dairy chairman Vaughan Templeton said not allowing any more dairy development would be a "blunt instrument" approach to the problem.
"We would rather see people who are (farming) there do so under certain conditions that don't have runoff. We have to put things in place to try to minimise it."

Is that goiung to be sufficient Vaughan?
I doubt it.
Commenters on the ST site so far don't have much faith in Mr Templetons way either:

Amanda   #2   10:07 am Feb 14 2011

I really don't see Dairy farmers regulating their practice look how much damage poor management has done to New Zealand's waterways already.
http://www.livingrivers.org.nz/Site/Living_Rivers/the_problem.aspx
I want to be able to swim in a river in 20 years time without swimming in cow sh**

Anne   #1   09:11 am Feb 14 2011

If that happens, it will be irreversible - so do something now! New Zealand has lost too many of its wetlands. We can put a diary farm anywhere - we can't move this internationally significant lagoon.

This issue has a long way to go and will get dirtier as it goes, I predict.
Something must be done and more of the same isn't going to save the lagoon.