From: Mary Sparrow To: Mailroom Mailbox Subject: Re: Hearing Submission to PC7 from Mary Sparrow and the Sparrow Family Trust Date: Thursday, 16 July 2020 10:38:23 am Attachments: Sparrow hearing submission.docx

Hello

Please find the attached hearing submission

Regards

Mary Sparrow BEFORE THE HEARING PANEL OF THE CANTERBURY REGIONAL COUNCIL

Under: the Resource Management Act 1991

In the matter of: Proposed Plan Change 7 (PC7) to the Canterbury Land and Water Regional Plan (CLWRP)

Statement of evidence of Mary Sparrow and the Sparrow Family Trust (Submitter No. 133)

Dated: 14 July, 2020

1 My name is Mary Sparrow (MA Political Science, University of Canterbury). I am

an independent social researcher.

2 From 2001 to 2015 I worked for the Council, initially as a

policy planner and finally its principal policy analyst.

3 While working for the Waimakariri District Council I was involved with the

development of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy document as a

member of the Official’s Group, and then as the Council’s officer supporting the

Waimakariri Zone Committee until I resigned from the Council in September

2015.

4 More recently, I was a member of the Environment Canterbury technical team

responsible for preparing the social impact assessment of the Zone

Implementation Addendum in collaboration with Dr. Nick Taylor.

5 I am a member of the Association for Impact Assessment

6 I have lived on my 50 hectare property to the west of since 1979, and

have held an irrigation consent in partnership with my late husband since 1982.

7 The two matters that are the subject of my submission relate to my interest in the

plan as a landowner and groundwater irrigation consent holder, and as a policy

analyst with an interest in monitoring.

8 Policy 8.4.25 Page 66

My submission requested the addition of further criteria to be taken into

consideration when reviewing applications for the renewal of groundwater

consents in catchments that are deemed to be “over allocated”. My main

concern is that the focus on the amounts of water previously taken could be

unduly restrictive, especially if the review is undertaken after a period of

reasonably high and well distributed annual rainfall. Under such conditions the

amounts of water drawn for irrigation are likely to be low compared with those

used during dryer seasons.

9 The management of a property will influence the volume and pattern of take. If

the recent land use has not involved irrigating early in the season, for example,

because of the desire to take the first cut of silage/bailage before commencing

irrigation the amount of water used has been less than when the property was

used to rear bull beef or a part of our neighbour’s milking platform.

10 While it is clear that constraints on the amount of water taken from ground may

be necessary to achieve environmental outcomes, it is also undesirable for

unnecessary constraints to be imposed because of restricted criteria to be taken

into account when renewing groundwater takes.

11 In view of the particular circumstances in some parts of the Waimakariri/Ashley

plain, it is also desirable for the characteristics of the availability of groundwater in

each locality to be taken into account. Environment Canterbury adopted the Eyre

Groundwater Allocation Zone, which covers most of the plain, and it has

assessed as being over allocated.

12 My property is some 5 kilometres to the west of Ohoka, an area which is a long

way from the southern boundary of the allocation zone, which is the Waimakariri

River. The groundwater monitoring which has been undertaken by Environment

Canterbury shows that the pattern of groundwater movement over time varies

across the zone.

13 The following graph shows the groundwater movement measured by

Environment Canterbury in a Swannanoa well M35/0143. This is the monitor

which I regard as a good indicator of the groundwater situation in the vicinity of

my property to the west of Ohoka.

Of particular interest with respect to well M35/143 is the pattern of groundwater

movement since the commencement of the WIL scheme in 2000, which has

shown less volatility than during the years prior to 2000.

14 This pattern of groundwater movement differs somewhat from the groundwater

movement in another Environment Canterbury monitor well located close to Tram

and Jeffs Drain Roads in Clarkville (well M35/0637), which is also in the Eyre

Allocation Zone.

15 Well L35/0051, the full record for which is below, is located to the south-west of

the Eyre Allocation Zone, at 3869 South Eyre Road, fluctuates within a narrower

range and does not show the marked variations between wet and dry years

apparent in wells to the east and north-east of the allocation zone.

16 These well records provide an illustration differences in movement of

groundwater across the Waimakariri/Ashley plain, and it would be reasonable for

these to be taken into account when assessing the reductions in take required

across the Eyre Allocation Zone to address its over allocation.1

1 Map of Environment Canterbury’s groundwater monitoring wells in the Waimakariri Zone

18 Policy 8.4.35 page 70

My submission requested the addition of (e) to Policy 8.4.35 which addresses

monitoring to state: “the results of specific investigations undertaken to identify

the effects of legacy and local issues impacting on ground and or surface water

nitrate-nitrogen levels, and how these can be mitigated. This submission reflects

my concern that while some issues were taken into account while developing the

provisions for the Waimakariri Zone in Plan Change 7, and I consider the next 10

years provide an opportunity to fine-tune the plan.

19 As far as gaining a better understanding of the factors influencing the nitrate-

nitrogen levels in the area’s ground water, it would appear important to consider

the impact of land uses over many years have had. The attachment contains a

paper which provides an overview of previous land uses that I prepared for the

Ecan Technical Team.

20 An early examples of quite intensive land use, is that in the Swannanoa area

there was significant grain growing to support the emerging settlement of

Christchurch as early as the 1870, and some cropping persists in this area today.

21 The land on the northern bank of the that was sold by Mr.

Spencer-Bower to the Crown in 1928 had not been developed. This is the area

that became the site of the , and is now being converted to

dairying or dairy support and beef production.

22 The Cust area is identified by the Plan Change as particularly sensitive and it is

one where local issues are relevant. It is an area where close attention needs to

be paid to both local and legacy issues is needed.

23 In 1999 Environment Canterbury submitted against on a Proposed Waimakariri

District Plan change that would have allowed the intensification of settlement at

Cust, because it was an unsewered community. In the 1990s Environment

Canterbury’s groundwater scientists had measured elevated nitrate levels down

gradient from unsewered rural communities, and its planners were anxious to

limit the intensification of settlement at Cust for that reason.

24 Also, prior to the commencement of the WIL irrigation scheme, the existence of

elevated nitrates in the Bennetts area to the west of Cust was recognised. It is

understood that the inappropriate storage of pig effluent may have contributed to

this situation. I offer a set of graphs of the nitrate readings in key wells in the

Bennetts/Cust area to illustrate the situation that has prevailed since 1999/2000.2

Well M35/4757 - Bennetts 7.6 7.5 7.4 7.4 7.3 7.3 7.3 7.3 7.3 7.2 7.1 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 6.9 6.8 6.8 6.8 6.7 6.7

nitrogen Mg/L 6.6 6.6 6.6 - 6.6 6.5 6.4 Nitrate 6.2 6.0

Year

2 Map identifying the location of wells in the Waimakariri Zone monitored for water quality

M35/5869 Howsons Road - west of Cust

16.0 13.6 14.0 12.8 12.7 12.0 10.0 9.8 9.7 9.3 10.0 8.4 8.8 8.8 7.6 7.9 7.8 8.0 6.8 7.2 8.0 6.1 6.7 6.5 6.5 5.3 6.0 4.0

Nitrate Nitrogen mg/L 2.0 0.0 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Year

Well M35/8567 - Cust

14.0 12.2 11.6 12.1 12.0 10.8 9.9 9.9 9.6 9.8 9.8 9.6 9.3 10.0 8.9 8.6 8.2 7.7 8.0 8.0 7.0 6.7 6.1 6.0 5.9 6.0 4.0

Nitrate Notrogen mg/L 2.0 0.0 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Year

M35/6295 - 1139 Oxford Road, Springbank

18.00 16.10 16.00 14.20 14.90 14.00 11.60 11.50 11.90 12.00 10.90 10.6011.1010.60 11.0010.60 11.00 10.00 10.20 10.20 10.20 9.60 10.00 8.80 8.30 8.50 8.00 6.00 4.00

Nitrate Nitrogen mg/L 2.00 0.00 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Year

25 The Bennetts well has been monitored since 1988, and in an assessment

undertaken for the Waimakariri District Council in 2008 the median for the period

1988 – 2006 was 7.15 and the maximum 8.7 and the trend was “decreasing”.3

For the period 2000 – 2019 the median is 7.00 and the maximum 7.5, which

would suggest that the nitrate-nitrogen level in this well is continuing to decline,

albeit gradually. I am not in a position to identify whether this change is

statistically significant.

26 Well M35/5869, which is located to the west of Cust has been monitored since

1991. The well M35/8567 is within the Cust residential and well M35/6295 is

down gradient of the Cust residential area. Each of these wells also had elevated

nitrate-nitrogen levels at the turn of the Century.

27 All the modelling to determining the level of control considered necessary to

reduce nitrate-nitrogen levels to an acceptable level has mainly focused on dairy

farming.

28 As far as I can see, other factors are likely to be influencing the situation, and it is

important that the monitoring policy for the Waimakariri Water Zone signal clearly

that other factors may be affecting the situation. Hence, my request for the

addition of reference to local and legacy issues in the PC7 monitoring policy for

the Waimakariri Zone.

29 It is easy within an institutional setting to focus on at the more general level and

track changes that reflect the general climate of opinion within an organisation.

The change that I am seeing is designed to alert those involved with monitoring

during the next 10 or so years to seek out the exceptions and find solutions for

these, as well as tracking the more general trends.

16 July 2020

3 Progress towards Community Outcomes p. 3.11 (Waimakariri District Council 2009)

Appendix

OVERVIEW OF LAND USES IN THE WAIMAKARIRI DISTRICT PRIOR TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF WAIMAKARIRI IRRIGATION LIMITED

1 Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief account of the use of rural land in the Waimakariri District to assist with the assessment of the significance of the pattern of nitrate readings from monitor wells.

The information provided was obtained from interview with members of the community, local histories and personal journals. Background information about the people interviewed and details of the other sources are provided in the appendix..

2 The early years

The initial settlers in the area were growing crops including wheat, oats and potatoes for the increasing number of people settling in . Kaiapoi Island (Clarkville) was subdivided very quickly after the arrival of European settlers, and by 1866 there were 41 leasehold or freehold farms and about 1000 acres of the area was growing grain. The farmers who settled inland of Kaiapoi struggled with the very high static water level, while the problem faced by the settlers on Kaiapoi Island was regular flooding from the Waimakariri River.

The drainage of the Mandeville and Flaxton Swamps commenced in 1859, by landowners with the assistance of the Provincial Government. These initial efforts were not successful. Following this a system involving a herringbone arrangement of drains was designed by Blackett, and commenced with the digging of what is known today as the Cust Main Drain. This drain, started in the 1860s was approximately 12 feet wide, and was quickly eroded to an estimated 100 feet wide. In 1871, however, there were still according to Hawkins “four thousand acres of useless land in the upper or Fernside part of the swamp, for the drains which had been dug there had proved ineffectual.” It was not until the drain that is now known as the No.1 Drain was dug, which captured the water from the Cust River that this problem would have been overcome.

The drained into the Mandeville swamp, and efforts were also made to drain it. These included an initial proposal to divert the water from the Eyre into the Waimakariri River, but this was not followed through. An Eyre Main Drain, similar to the Cust Main Drain, channelled water from the Eyre River into the north branch of the Waimakariri River. The construction of the Eyre Diversion was part of the Hayes Scheme to modify the lower reaches on the Waimakariri River in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Also as part of this scheme, the North Branch of the Waimakariri was cut off from the main stem and became the Silverstream/.

Dairy farming in the east of the District commenced in the Sefton area in 1889 with the opening of Canterbury’s first dairy factory, and quickly spread to other areas of heavy land in the east of the District. This saw the farmers in the Ohoka area turn to dairying and for crop growing to move to Swannanoa and further west in the area between the Cust and Eyre Rivers. The extent of dairying at Ohoka is illustrated by the establishment of three 1 Waimakariri District: Early land uses Mary Sparrow Research

creameries in that area. Dairying also because established along the Cust River and in the Oxford area.

Cropping was the dominant land use for areas of the mid and upper Waimakariri Ashley plain that were broken in, as there was no reliable source of water for livestock before the introduction of the stock water race system at the beginning of the 20th Century, except from the Cust and Waimakariri Rivers. The availability of water was also an issue for the people who settled in this area. Hawkins reports that they frequently had to travel “several miles by dray, on horseback or on foot to get water in drums and buckets.”

This also accounts for the relatively limited number of people in this area in the late 19th Century. In 1874 Hawkins records that there were only 260 settlers and 53 holdings in the West area including Swannanoa – the most sparsely settled area between the Waimakariri and Waipara Rivers.

On these farms in 1874, however were sown 6812 acres of wheat. Of the “croppers” one Horatio Wood is credited with harvesting wheat from 400 acres in one season during the 1870s. The relative isolation of /Horrelville and the volume of grain being grown in this area at that stage contributed to the decision to build the Eyre railway line, with the first train running on this line on 27 December 1875. The intensive cropped of young soils without fertilisers resulted in considerable damaged to the structure of soils in this area.

The poorer soils of the mid and upper plain were regarded as being of little use and in many areas were not broken in until the 20th Century. There were, however, indications during the 19th Century in the district and elsewhere in Canterbury that the poorer soils could become productive with the application of water.

Marmaduke Dixon described by Hawkins as “the greatest single occupant” of the poorer land to the south of the District, and he began to experiment with irrigation from the Waimakariri River. He dug “an eleven-foot wide cutting through the banks of the Waimakariri and out onto Eyrewell, and with the aid of local artisans fitted it with controlling sluice gates.” ”On 28 December 1891 he showed the results to a large gathering of farmers – a once useless 250- acre block already covered with a vigorous growth of grass. To confound the sceptics he exhibited the shingly water-race floor sealed with silt.”

In 1894 Parliament enacted legislation to establish the Waimakariri-Ashley Water-Supply Board, composed of representatives from Oxford, Eyreton, West Eyreton, Cust, and Mandeville areas. By 1900 the Board based in Oxford had “spent $25,000 on the supply of water to supply water to thousands of poor land, and had five hundred miles of water-races throughout the district.”

While dairying commenced in the Sefton area in the late 19th Century, the planting of fruit trees in the area would appear to date from early in the 20th Century. This was prompted by the success of fruit trees planted in that area by the initial settlers compared with those on the plains, and led to the subdivision of land into small holdings suitable for orcharding. Apart from fruit growing there was limited cropping in the Loburn/Ashley area during the early years, with sheep farming remaining the dominant form of farming.

In the 19th Century the poorer land on the north bank of the Ashley River/Rakahuri west of the featured extensive sheep farming. The situation was similar for Lees 2 Waimakariri District: Early land uses Mary Sparrow Research

Valley, and there were instances where sheep were moved between the two areas along the route now known as the Blowhard Track, with stock spending the summer months in Lees Valley and the winter on the front country. In at least one instances this practice continued until the Lees Valley leases were terminated by the Government and the land used to provide farms for returning soldiers. By and large the settlement of Lees Valley was in Hawkins words “plagued by difficulties and debts”, including major stock losses from snow storms in the years immediately after settlement.

Until the end of the 19th Century the foothills forest north of the Ashley River/Rakahuri was milled. This was halted by a major fire in January 1898 which saw homes and sheds destroyed. At the same time the settlement at Oxford was almost lost to a fire which in understood to have burned for about three weeks. These fires provided the opportunity to open up foothills areas for farming as tussock and native grasses grew in the areas that had been burnt.

2 Recent land uses prior to the commencement of Waimakariri Irrigation Ltd.

2.1 Dairy farming

At its peak in the south east of the District there were approximately 13 dairy farms in the Ohoka area (east of McRoberts Road), and a further seven or eight in the Clarkville area.

These were small farms without effluent systems, and all the effluent from the cowsheds went into the area’s drains. Despite this there was plentiful fish life in the drains, and this was attributed to the absence of the use of chemicals.

The first use of irrigation water in the Ohoka area came with the use of water from the Ohoka Stream in the 1950s. Over the following decades other farmers began irrigating from groundwater mainly using hand-shift and end-tow lines prior to the introduction of mobile irrigators in the 1980s. On the heavier land these older methods of irrigation were seen as using water efficiently, as the applications of between 50mm and 100mm on heavy soils results in water remaining within the root zone until the return application three to four weeks.

The Ohoka dairy farms have been gradually subdivided to create small holdings, Residential 4 (rural residential) development, transferred to full dairy support or winter grazing and “cut and carry” hay or baleage. There was one farm converted from sheep to dairying in the Ohoka area in the 1980s.

Dairying also continued on the heavy land to the east of Rangiora. In addition, limited number of other relatively small dairy farms are continuing to operate in the Fernside area north of the Main Drain and in the Cust valley. Some of the properties close to the Main Drain had surface water takes, while others used groundwater. In addition, there were dairy farms the Oxford area prior to the introduction of the irrigation scheme.

3 Waimakariri District: Early land uses Mary Sparrow Research

2.2 Sheep farming

Sheep farming was the predominant activity on the mid and upper-Waimakariri Ashley plain prior to the commencement of the Waimakariri Irrigation scheme. The concentration on sheep farming can be attributed to the profitability of this form of farming from the Korean War wool boom immediately after World War II. This “wool boom” was likened to the recent $8.00 plus for milk solids in the dairy industry. It was suggested that the main objective of those who went dairy farming in that era was to earn enough to buy a sheep farm.

Even as the profitability of sheep farming deteriorated later in the second half of the 20th Century, it remained more profitable than dryland cropping despite the government incentives associated with depreciation rates on farm machinery. While some wheat was being grown on farms with good soils away from the Eyre River sheep remained the major part of the operation. Green feed oats for winter feed for sheep were being sown using traditional cultivation and fallowing methods, and in some instances rape was planted for finishing lambs.

The soil types across the plain tended to influence the breed of sheep farmed. For example, to the immediately west of Ohoka the land was better suited to Romney, Romney cross of Coupworths. Corridales performed better on the lighter dryer land, and in some instances Merinos were being farmed on dry areas of the Ashley River/Rakahuri side of the upper plain. From Sinai, a property named after the desert on the upper plain close to the Waimakariri Gorge, the Stokes family regularly used to transfer large mobs of sheep from the upper plain to the family’s Lees Valley property.

There were some sheep farmers using irrigation. Of particular note was the situation at Lytham to the west of the District on the south side of the South Eyre Road. In 1975 the first deep well in the west of the District yielded sufficient water for irrigation was drilled on this property and after the introduction of irrigation continued to farm sheep with some deer.

In the early 1970s Spencer-Bower and Prattley obtained consent to take water from the Waimakariri River, which was applied via boarder dykes and also continued to run mainly sheep, and in the 1990s some dairy support grazing.

In addition, there were sheep farms to the west of Ohoka and Swannanoa that were irrigating with groundwater prior to the introduction of the Waimakariri irrigation scheme. These properties were irrigating from relatively shallow wells taking water from the Eyre system. Some had more reliable sources of water than others, and those towards the west were often unable to obtain sufficient water to irrigate after January in a dry year. Those closer to Ohoka found that it was in the second consecutive dry year that they were likely to result in insufficient water to operate travelling irrigators.

2.3 Cropping

A limited number of properties could be described as mixed/arable or arable farms on the Waimakariri/Ashley plain. These farms were mainly on good soils close to the Eyre River and in the years before the commencement of the Waimakariri irrigation scheme in 1999/2000 were irrigating from groundwater bores, which yielded sufficient water in the spring and early summer when needed by crops. These farmers used conventional dryland cultivation techniques of fallowing prior to planting crops. The farmers planting green feed 4 Waimakariri District: Early land uses Mary Sparrow Research

oats for winter feed unirrigated were also fallowing land for significant periods prior to planting their crops.

There was some cropping with irrigation on land to the west of Ohoka in the 1980s, but was hampered by the lack of reliable water during a decade of highly fluctuating rainfall. These areas included properties adjacent to Woodfields Road and others in the same vicinity. For example, Mandelea a property of approximately 75 hectares on McRoberts Road converted from sheep to predominantly cropping with some sheep in the 1980s, and in the late 1980s was the first farm of some size to be subdivided in its entirety into small-holdings.

2.4 Pigs and Poultry

Went compared with other local authority areas Waimakariri has relatively high numbers of pigs and poultry being farmed. In the early years of dairying when separators were operating on farm and only cream collected, skimmed milk was being fed to pigs. At this stage there were a few pigs on a relatively large number of farms. More recently there have been some large housed pig operation and a few free range (outdoor) pig farms.

Effluent from the indoor pig operations is spread on pastures. The history of high nitrate readings in the Bennetts area, at least recently, is attributed to the management of pig effluent. There were three effluent holding ponds created by damming an old natural waterway. When describing these ponds it was stressed that they were authorised when established, as it was considered the appropriate way to deal with the pig effluent at that time.

While this may be the source of the relatively recent high nitrate readings in the Bennetts area, earlier testing in the area to the west of Cust by the New Zealand Army in the 1950 also found high nitrate levels. While the families living in the area were informed of these test results no formal records are held by them, and there is no information about the reasons for this testing.

In recent years there has also been pig effluent spread on areas close to the Tram Road in the Ohoka area.

Poultry farms were predominantly in the Swannanoa area. Most of these are identified in Figure 5.1 p.61 of the 1994 Canterbury University geography thesis “Groundwater Pollution: Myth and Reality Implications for Rural Subdivision” by V.K. Wilkinson. Wilkinson reports “All poultry farms witnessed had large offal pits for the disposal of carcasses.” The pits on various properties are described, but it would appear that these pits were no longer in use by 1994 as it is reported “The disposal of dead poultry is now contracted out to agencies.” The pits nevertheless were reported as remaining a concern for neighbours.

Wilkinson also reviews the situation concerning the disposal of effluent from poultry sheds, reporting that it is either composted or spread onto land, and that any effluent spread at greater than 2,000 litres per day requires a discharge permit. It was noted “Farmers deny applying effluent if they have not gained consent to do so.”

5 Waimakariri District: Early land uses Mary Sparrow Research

2.5 Horticulture

The majority of the horticultural enterprises in the Waimakariri District over the years have been scattered, small scale and of variable duration. Some of these sold produce to the local market and others were involved in exporting. The exporting of flowers, principally involved Asiatic and calla lilies, peony roses and more recently hydrangeas.

For a short period in the 1970/80s the wife of an established farmer in the Swannanoa area exported fresh herbs to the United States of America, but this did not continue after she stopped growing herbs commercially.

In 1989/90 the subdivision of Mandelea under the “independent farm unit” planning test saw the establishment of a calla lily cooperative, was the first whole of farm subdivision in the District. This enterprise had a limited life as wet seasons in the early 1990s saw many bulbs lost, and the sale of some of the properties meant that the consent commitment to grow lilies for five years lapsed. A pack house at Mandelea continued to pack flowers for export from across the area after many of the properties in the subdivision ceased flower production.

The “independent farm unit” test was the planning test that allowed the subdivision of land below the permitted planning threshold that prevailed at the time under the Town and Country Planning Act and continued under the District’s Transitional Plan after the passage of the Resource Management Act. Many small lots throughout the Clarkville, Eyreton, Ohoka, Mandeville and Swannanoa were created in the 1980s and 1990s using this method of obtaining planning approval.

In addition to Mandelea, there were subdivisions involving the creation of multiple small holdings. The San Dona Olive Groves at Mandeville involved five stages and ultimately saw the creation of 127 lots in the 1.5 ha to 2.0 ha range, each committed to the establishment of one hectare of olives. The last stages of this development occurred in the 2000s. In the late 1980s the Ohoka Downs subdivision to the east of San Dona, between Bradleys and Whites Roads, saw slightly larger lots created and the planting of nut trees.

Also adjacent to Tram Road and between Whites and Jacksons Roads is the development of a truffiere or truffle growing collective providing the opportunity to construct dwellings on a gated property along with trees infected with truffle spores which dates from the same period.

There is a subdivision adjacent to Mandeville and Moffatts Roads of lots of approximately 2 ha, initially designed for horticultural production which is now showing little sign of their intended purpose today.

Further to the west and also adjacent to Tram Road were apple orchards and vineyards. Most of the area in apple orchards in the early 1990s has now been converted to Residential 4 (rural residential) development. A number of the vineyards are still in production and some are understood to be sending grapes to the winemakers in the Waipara area.

A major horticultural development of the 1980/90s came with the purchase of the property on the corner of Two Chain Road and South Eyre Road by vegetable growing interests at that time associated with the Prestons Road “Vege Pot” vegetable market. This property is understood to have been exporting fresh vegetables to Japan as well as supplying the local 6 Waimakariri District: Early land uses Mary Sparrow Research

market. It is still identified as “horticulture” on Agribase, but since the establishment of large scale dairy farms had begun to grow “cut and carry” maize.

2.6 Hill country

By the beginning of the 20th Century timber milling assisted by the forest fires had seen a considerable area of the foothills cleared for farming. The major boost to hill country production came with widespread aerial topdressing in the years immediately after World War II as it meant that land that could not be reached by vehicles could be fertilised. Grass seed and clover was also scattered from the air which meant the establishment of improved pastures and thus higher levels of production on the District’s hill country. The ability to spray from the air also aided land management.

Throughout the period most hill country properties have grazed sheep and cattle, with the ratio of sheep to cattle being a matter of choice and sometimes market driven. Most of the District’s hill country that is farmed was developed prior to the land development incentive scheme introduced by the government in the late 1970s. In fact, with the decline in profitability of sheep farming and the increased costs of aerial applications some of the District’s hill country properties are likely to have seen areas revert to indigenous vegetation in recent years.

2.7 North of the Ashley River/Rakahuri

Recent changes to farming patterns north of the Ashley River/Rakahuri have seen some dairy grazing on the flat land, and fewer sheep on properties on the easy hill country. The number of sheep farms has declined from about 15 to 7 on the hills from the round to Sefton. Breeding cow numbers are down, and these are stocked mainly as a management tool to control unwanted weed species. There is some finishing of beef cattle including dairy beef, and a few deer being farmed.

The boost in sheep numbers in the late 1970s/early 1980s with the government livestock retention incentive was quickly “sorted out” by the droughts of the 1980s. Other changes include the decline in orcharding, with most ceasing operation while one or two increased in scale. Those with properties close to Rangiora had the option of subdivision into small holdings as their operations lost profitability. This has become a feature of land use change in areas such as Carrs Road.

2.8 State forests

The first plantings in the Eyrewell State Forest were commenced in 1928. The land used for this forest was purchased by the government from Marmaduke Spencer-Bower. At the time that the government took over this land it had not been broken in, and was predominantly covered with Kanuka (or Manuka as it was described then).

The government purchase a total of 17,228 acres for the Eyrewell State Forest and by the end of 1929 3,135 acres had been planted. By 1952 the area of the forest had grown to 18,176 acres and that year 302,000 cubic feet of timber was milled. (Hawkins p.321)

The Mount Grey Downs State Forest was established with the purchase of 4,900 acres, and by 1952 a total of 3,214 acres had been planted. 7 Waimakariri District: Early land uses Mary Sparrow Research

Hawkins describes the planting of exotic trees as a “new found use for the poor country of Eyrewell and on Mount Grey Downs.” And points to the establishment two settlements for forestry workers and a “young industry started to replace the milling of native timber which had long since ceased.” (Ibid p.321)

References

D.N. Hawkins Beyond the Waimakariri: A regional history (Published on behalf of the area’s borough and county councils, 1957)

Pauline Wood Eyre wind and water: A history of the Eyre District (Waimakariri District Council, 2008)

Marmaduke Spencer-Bower “Ninety Years – Some Memoirs” (private publication held in the Waimakariri District Library)

Hugh and James Ensor Rakahuri stock book: 1906 – 1944 (Private document)

Interviewees

Ian Stokes: member of a farming family with properties on the upper plain including Sinai and in Lees Valley. Mr Stokes is now living on a property on the upper plain close to the Ashley River/Rakahuri.

Ronald Dalley: former owner and managing director of Irrigation and Pumping Services at Ohoka. Mr Dalley has lived in the Ohoka area all his life and has extensive experience of water management on the Waimakariri/Ashley plain.

Murray Taggart: second generation farming land to the west of Cust, farming sheep beef and crops much of it under irrigation from WIL. Mr. Taggart began farming on his own account in 1990. Former National Chairman of Federated Farmers Meat and Fibre Section, and is currently a director of Balance Agri-Nutrients and CRT, and from 2002 – 2007 a farmers representative since 2013 chairman of Alliance Group Ltd., a co-operative meat processing company.

Robert Johnston: second generation hill country farmer with land immediately to the south of the Ashley River/Rakahuri gorge. Mr. Johnston was a member of the Meat and Wool Board Electoral Committee in the 1970s and the New Zealand Wool Board, and for 10 years an Environment Canterbury Councillor representing North Canterbury.

Duncan Lundy: hill country farmer with a property north of the Ashley River/Rakahuri. Mr Lundy was a Waimakariri District Councillor in the 1990s and more recently a member of the Woodend Ashley Community Board. Is currently a participant on the Environment Canterbury Farmers’ Panel providing expert farmer opinion assisting with the economic modelling for the Waimakariri Sub-Regional Chapter of Canterbury Land and Water Regional Plan.

8 Waimakariri District: Early land uses Mary Sparrow Research

David Ashby: dairy farmer and director of Dave Ashby Rural Consultants Ltd. Mr. Ashby has been dairy farming in the Fernside/Ohoka area for more than 25 years, and was prior to that a farm advisory who, among his other work provided expert evidence in district resource management hearings and at the Environment Court. He is currently a member of the CWMS Waimakariri Zone Committee.

9 Waimakariri District: Early land uses Mary Sparrow Research