Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 30
The Nevis River: An Example
of River Conservation in the
New Zealand Context
Niall Watson
Otago Fish and Game Council, Dunedin, New Zealand
Introduction
provided a new mechanism for either preserving
rivers in their natural state or protecting natural
values such as fisheries where rivers had been
modified. Protection was achieved through the
making of National Water Conservation Orders
(WCOs) where rivers or their natural values were
judged to be 'outstanding' in a national context.
Rivers and lakes with WCO status were seen as
nationally important and the freshwater equivalent
of national parks.
The new law borrowed from the US Wild and
Scenic Rivers Act 1968 except that it could apply
to both rivers and lakes, required applications
and hearings with rights of appeal rather than
designations, and did not cover adjacent land
unless there was a clear connection to the water. It
was quickly put to good use by statutory agencies to
protect the outstanding conservation and amenity
values of some New Zealand rivers and by 1990
four WCOs had been granted for nationally
important rivers. The Mangonuioteao River was
protected for having outstanding habitat for the
native blue duck (
Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos
)
outstanding wild and scenic qualities and an
outstanding trout fishery. The Ahuriri River
was protected for its outstanding wildlife habitat
for wading birds, including the rare black stilt
(
Himantopus novaezelandiae
),
In 1990 river management in New Zealand
was focused on a limited number of conflicting
objectives and suffered from the overlapping
policies of different agencies (Scott and Watson,
1994). New Zealand's Water and Soil Conservation
Act 1967 encouraged a 'multiple use' approach to
water resources which resulted in the incremental
loss of natural and amenity values of rivers. At the
time river management lacked any real integration
despite a growing awareness of the importance of
rivers as fish and wildlife habitats and landscape
features, and the need to conserve them.
The natural values of rivers came a distant
second to flood control and drainage, to the
use of water for irrigation or waste disposal and
to the extraction of river gravels. There was
little consideration of channel form or riparian
management, water allocation limits or waterway
monitoring requirements. Water quality issues,
mostly from point-source pollution, were being
addressed, but non-point-source pollution was
only just beginning to emerge as a recognized issue.
Counterbalancing legal provisions had been
introduced into water legislation in 1981 after
mounting public concern about a likely surge in
hydro-dam construction and the risk of losing
more
and
for
its
trout
fishery,
and
the
Rakaia
was
protected
for
its
free-flowing
rivers.
Change
in
the
law
