West Coasters say land made 'worthless overnight' by new environment laws

Friday, 29 November 2019

West Coast sphagnum moss farmer Bruce Truman says his land became worthless overnight when it was designated a wetland. (Video first published in November 2019)

West Coast landowners say environmental protections are ruining their livelihood. JOANNE CARROLL reports.

When West Coast farmer Gordon Graham's property was classified as a significant natural area (SNA) he began a court battle with the Grey District Council that left him bankrupt.

Gordon bought the farming and timber block at Candlelight, near Stillwater on the West Coast about 35 years ago. He runs dry stock on most of it, but bought a mill and gained a permit to harvest 500 cubic metres of beech from a 43ha native forest on the land in 2000. However, his plans were scuppered when the Grey District Council earmarked the forest as an SNA.

Landowners the length of the West Coast fear they will also have their plans curtailed after this weeks's Government announcement that councils must identify and protect areas where there is significant vegetation and indigenous fauna and wetlands by 2026. It is out for public consultation until March.

Bruce Truman says the new rules are 'totally unfair'. 'As soon as you take away someone's rights to earn a living from their land in its current state they should have to pay for it.'

* Government's plan to earmark areas of natural significance labelled 'theft by the crown' by farmer

* Hutt City abandons its controversial SNA plan to protect biodiversity

West Coast sphagnum moss farmer Bruce Truman says moss-picking is a sustainable industry in the region. (File photo)

* Eastbourne land confiscation claims

* Indigenous biodiversity examined in Marlborough

* New Plymouth ratepayers stressed over plan

* Farmers says plan to regulate private land is unfair**

Graham Gordon's forest in the background has been classified as a significant natural area.

In Graham's case, the battle with council has cost him almost $300,000 in legal bills, and included Graham refusing council staff access to his land. He said he has accepted the SNA classification but was hopeful of consent to harvest the trees sustainably.

Council planner Michael McEnaney said the council was waiting for DOC approval before granting the resource consent.

Grey District Council chief executive Paul Pretorius said under the Grey District Plan landowners can fell native trees 'as of right' unless the land is classified as an SNA, when a resource consent and an ecological report was needed.

He said the council had used broad criteria when setting SNAs, and a 'permissive approach' when considering resource consents for SNA land. But the Government's proposed National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity could introduce stricter criteria.

EXPORT BUSINESS

Graham's neighbour, sphagnum moss collector Bruce Truman says his West Coast land became worthless overnight when it was designated a wetland.

The area of Graham Gordon's property near Stillwater on the West Coast that has been classified as a significant natural area is marked in red.

Truman bought 159 hectares of land in Candlelight in 2011 for $1.2 million. The previous landowner had successfully fought against the Grey District Council's plan to mark it as a significant natural area (SNA) and had a contract on it for dairy conversion. Less than a year after Truman purchased the land he received a letter from the West Coast Regional Council notifying him the land had been designated a schedule two wetland.

'There was no consultation. No-one came out to have a look around or talk to me. The first I heard about it was a letter in the mail. Someone used Google Earth to decide that my land was a wetland with serious implications for me and my business. They are punishing people who make a living from the land,' he said.

Having a wetland meant strict rules around its productive use, including a prohibition on trimming.

Truman unsuccessfully appealed the classification through a costly hearing process. However, he has continued harvesting moss employing two people and turning over $300,000 a year.

He fears the new Government proposals for wetlands will stop him but is hoping the regional council will decide that moss picking is a permitted activity. The regional council has supported his business, initially fighting against wetlands protection in its regional plan.

It is now looking to make harvesting moss a permitted activity through a district plan change in the next few months.

Bruce Truman's sphagnum moss farm has been designated a schedule two wetland.

Truman said the Government was trying to control wetlands, without paying for them and compared it to Mugabe taking land from white farmers. 'The only difference is in New Zealand they tell you you still own it but you can't do what you want with it.'

He said it was 'totally unfair'. 'As soon as you take away someone's rights to earn a living from their land in its current state they should have to pay for it.'

Truman's 85-year-old neighbour, Tony Barrett, said his father bought 607ha of leasehold land from the Government in the 1930s. Over many years, he bought it freehold block by block. About 80 per cent of it is now designated a wetland.

'They were glad to get rid of it. No-one else wanted it because it was a swamp. It was rough ground they left lying. We didn't develop it which we should have but we didn't have the money. Now they won't let us develop it but I don't think that's right because it's freehold. It's yours, you should do what you want with it. I've worked hard all my life and then they want to take it off you,' he said.

A FAILURE TO PROTECT VULNERABLE ECOSYSTEMS

SNAs and wetlands are areas containing important native ecosystems that are now under threat or at risk of extinction. Councils have been tasked with identifying and protecting them since the advent of the Resource Management Act in 1991.

But only 62 per cent of councils have identified some SNAs in their district – none in the South Island have completed the task, and only 11 in the North Island. The SNA scheme has been met with fierce opposition and some councils dropped any attempts to force the classification on landowners who feared they would be unable to develop their land if it was given SNA status.

Grey mayor Tania Gibson makes an impassioned plea for the Government to listen to West Coasters.

Wetlands have become 'probably New Zealand's most depleted ecosystem' and 'remain the most vulnerable,', according to an analysis by Landcare Research in 2017.

An estimated 30,000 hectares of wetlands have been either fully or partly destroyed since 2001, according to data by Forest & Bird.

An analysis in 2008 estimated wetlands once covered nearly 2.5 million hectares, or about 10 per cent of New Zealand's land mass. This has since been reduced by more than 90 per cent, to less than 250,000ha.

A quarter of wetlands are on private land and almost 90,000ha are on the West Coast. The West Coast lost the most wetland of any region between 2001 and 2015 (at 10,700ha), though Wellington lost the most proportionally at 37 per cent.

The government's new draft proposal says only a limited number of landowners will be significantly affected.

It will cost up to $1m per council and central Government up to $2.65m to implement the policy. Some money has been tentatively earmarked through the International Visitor Levy already, it says.

The Westland District Council has not yet mapped out any SNAs. A consultant's report commissioned by the Government to identify the cost and benefits of the policy said SNAs would cover 30 per cent of private land in Westland. The figure has alarmed private landowners and the mayor Bruce Smith calling for landowners to be compensated.

The Grey District Council has already confirmed 37 sites, each with an average size of 74.12 hectares.

CHRISTCHURCH

In Canterbury, a newly planted wetland area will become a haven for birds as well as the endangered Canterbury mudfish.

Wetland loss adjacent to Awarua Wetland Ramsar site, Southland, pictured in about 2009. The brown area is the wetland that was cleared and drained.

Christchurch City Council head of parks Andrew Rutledge said the council had identified 103 sites of ecological significance in its district plan. There are 42 solely sitting on private property, and 29 that span both public and private land.

'This is a mixture of public and private property covering a total area of about 20,000ha. More than half of the area is lakes, such as Te Waihora, Wairewa, and Te Wahapu Avon/Heathcote Estuary. More sites will be assessed in the future, often at the request of landowners,' he said.

The imposition of SNAs by councils has had a chequered past.

The Hutt City Council abandoned its plans to identify such areas in 2018. One meeting in the suburb of Eastbourne turned so nasty that a landowner allegedly threatened to get his gun. Instead it set up a fund which has helped 1082 landowners protect and enhance biodiversity on their property.

The decision was challenged by Forest & Bird to the Environment Court, but has not been heard yet.

In 2015 the New Plymouth District Council decided to take a 'soft' approach to SNAs so it could work with farmers.

Forest and Bird took the council to the Environment Court, which ruled the council was wrong not to include 361 SNAs in its district plan.

Breaching the rules can have costly consequences. Last year, a Wanaka landowner had to carry out $92,000 worth of remediation work when the Environment Court issued an enforcement order after he dug up 10ha of his SNA land.

MARLBOROUGH

Marlborough District Council's biodiversity coordinator Mike Aviss said the council had been working with landowners who had volunteered to join the Marlborough Significant Natural Areas Project since 2000.

Over 282 landowners participated, and so far 705 sites have been identified making up 45,000ha. A further 1360 wetlands had been identified.

Aviss said an assistance fund of up to $250,000 was available to help landowners with fencing or pest control. Since 2003 more than 80 significant natural areas have been protected with help from the fund.

He said many landowners voluntarily signed up because they wanted to protect the biodiversity on their land to use it as a marketing tool, a tourism attraction, or purely for altruistic reasons. 'It makes them feel good,' he said.