The Kaikōura Zone Committee will meet at Woodbury School on Wednesday 22 February for its first monthly meeting of the year.
The Zone Committee was officially launched in July 2011. Since then it has met five times to gather information about the region and its water resource.
At this month’s meeting the committee will discuss its initial water management priority outcomes and the key pathways to achieve these in the zone. These outcomes and pathways will form the basis of the committee’s initial discussions with the community.
The initial priority outcomes cover drinking water; integrated management of the Kaikōura streams, fans, flats and wetlands; looking after the zone’s biodiversity and freshwater ecosystem treasures; access to water bodies; and integrating land and sea including managing the impacts of the coastal road and rail corridor on waterways.
Small working groups of committee members have met to discuss priority outcomes and recommendations which will presented to the full committee.
Once the committee has agreed on its water management priorities for the zone they need to be further refined and developed to form the basis for the draft Kaikōura Zone Implementation Programme (ZIP).
The community and stakeholders will be asked to provide feedback and this will be a key focus for the committee at the meeting. The committee hopes to be able to engage with the community to get their feedback on the priority areas in March 2012.
The committee’s draft ZIP will include recommendations on how to deliver the priority outcomes. The committee intends to release a draft ZIP for community feedback in the middle of the year.
The committee will end this month’s meeting by receiving presentations from Clarence River Rafting and local land care group ECCO. The meeting will be followed by a field trip to lower Clarence.
At previous meetings the committee has discussed the state of the water resource in the zone, cultural values, drinking water, Canterbury Water targets, and priority areas for biodiversity funding.
The committee also goes on a number of field trips so members can visit areas of significance and meet with community members. At the end of last year the committee visited Lake Rotorua to get a feel for the surrounding landscape and to learn more about the biodiversity values and water quality of the lake and surrounding catchment.
The Kaikōura Zone Committee operates as a joint committee of the Kaikōura District Council and Environment Canterbury. Committee meetings are open to the public.
Meeting information
Kaikōura Zone Committee meeting
9.30am Wednesday, 22 February
Community Hall, Woodbank School, Clarence
Read the agenda