CULTURAL IMPACT REPO R T Dry Creek replacement cleanfill Judgeford IN ASSOCIATION WITH WELLINGTON TENTHS TRUST & PORT NICHOLSON BLOCK SETTLEMENT TRUST CULTURAL IMPACT REPORT Dry Creek replacement cleanfill TABLE OF CONTENTS PROJECT OVERVIEW & TECHNICAL DETAIL .................................................................................3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF CULTURAL IMPACT REPORT ...........................................................5 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ......................................................................................................................6 OTHER CULTURAL ISSUES ............................................................................................................................7 TRADITIONAL MAORI HISTORY OF THE AREA ..............................................................................7 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................... 10 BATTLE OF BOULCOTT FARM .................................................................................................................... 15 TANGATA WHENUA OF WELLINGTON TODAY ............................................................................. 16 RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................................................ 19 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................................................ 19 APPENDIX I ................................................................................................................................................ 20 APPENDIX II – TRACKS AND PLACES IN HUTT VALLEY AND PORIRUA ............................... 21 APPENDIX III – SITE LOCATION MAP ............................................................................................... 22 © Raukura Consultants 2 PROJECT OVERVIEW & TECHNICAL DETAIL The Project 1. Winstone Aggregates (Winstones) propose to establish and operate a cleanfill on rural land adjacent to State Highway 58 (SH58) approximately 4 kms to the northwest of Winstone’s existing Dry Creek Cleanfill on State Highway 2 (SH2). 2. The proposed cleanfill will be known as the Dry Creek Replacement Cleanfill (DCR). The DCR site is privately owned and currently run as a dry stock farming operation. The site is located within the jurisdiction of the Greater Wellington Regional Council, the Porirua City Council and Hutt City Council. The land will be leased to Winstones as required. 3. The DCR will be located in the lower half of a farm gully which effectively ensures that the upper half of regenerating and mature native vegetation can remain intact and can be subject to potential future protection through stock exclusion. 4. The cleanfill will have an extensive drainage system centred on the main stream in the gully all leading to sediment retention ponds which are designed to retain sediments from discharging into the natural streams. The project will have four such ponds with three in gullies around the site. Fill slopes will be stabilised and planted as they are built up with fill. 5. The site will be accessed through a controlled entrance from SH 58 with a main access road across the top of the fill site. The Environment 6. The DCR site is within the Pauatahanui catchment which has an overall area of around 43.4 km2 and the mainstream length is 9.6 km. The upper catchment has pockets of bush and shrubland with the middle and lower catchment largely in exotic shelter belts and pasture. 7. There is a tributary of the Pauatahanui Stream that runs through the site and joins the upper reaches of the main stream after passing through a culvert under SH58. 8. The Pauatahanui stream and its tributaries like stream in the region have populations of native fish including banded kokopu, eels and bullies. There is some limitation on fish access along the valley, with some perched culverts in the Pauatahanui Stream. 3 That would mean the ‘climbers’ of the native fish species are favoured in the upper catchment with perhaps including koaro (one of the whitebait species and perhaps the best climber able to climb near vertical walls). 9. The project will not involve clearing indigenous forest or scrublands with most of the area being pasture with some 0.7 ha of manuka shrubland to be cleared. Above the site the Belmont Regional Park which features regenerating native forest is used extensively around the Dry Creek area in the Hutt valley. Ref: ATL 1/2-151767-F Aerial view of the Haywards Hill Road in 1939. The cleanfill site is in the background of this photo which shows Dry Creek 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF CULTURAL IMPACT REPORT 10. This report will cover the area around the proposed cleanfill site in the Pauatahanui Stream catchment. The area is largely pasture in a gully which has a tributary of the Pauatahanui Stream draining it. Water flows in the area are intermittent with few permanent streams. The cleanfill will fill the unnamed stream gully which will have been culverted to provide essential drainage of the upper catchment through the site. There will be four sediment retention ponds. Erosion control is also important for a cleanfill operation including stabilisation of fill faces and drainage control. The cleanfill operation is large and will need to be landscaped to manage visual impacts. 11. The cultural impact issues around this project will largely focus on potential environmental impacts. The Māori cultural significance of this area relate to events that occurred in the Hutt Valley and Pauatahanui in the early colonial period. Early Māori travelled through the area to get to hunting grounds or while transiting to battles. In the mid 19th century the area became notorious with Māori warriors coming through this area to attack the colonists in the Hutt valley and then escape back through the valley eventually to the Pā at Battle Hill. There were no Pā, kainga or urupa in the immediate area of the cleanfill. The nearest Pā were at Pauatahanui and in the Hutt Valley at Motutawa (Avalon Park). 12. The Māori cultural issues related to this area come from what was happening in the Hutt Valley and at Pauatahanui and the movement of people from one area to another. 13. In the period of colonisation this was an area affected by conflicts both between various iwi as well as between the newly arriving colonists and visiting iwi groups. The land was a major route between the Porirua Harbour and the Hutt Valley. It is still that today. However it was not really a place where people resided, gardened or stayed for any time. There were no Pā sites or Māori burial grounds. The tracks through the site were the most important feature from Māori times. The hills above Belmont were known as Pareraho Hills. 5 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES 14. The area for the cleanfill is drained by the Pauatahanui Stream which itself drains into the Pauatahanui Inlet, an arm of the sea. The inlet is one with high ecological values with the estuarine area being home to many juvenile stages of both freshwater species of fish along with many marine species. Pauatahanui Inlet is the largest in Porirua and the most extensive relatively unmodified estuarine area in the southern part of the North Island. 15. The Pauatahanui Inlet is home to waterfowl, both local and migratory waders, with occasionally a rare visitor such as the bar-tailed godwit. The inlet is the only large area of salt-marsh and seagrass in the Wellington region. The quality of the water it receives from the Pauatahanui stream catchment is important. 16. The site is adjacent to part of the Belmont Regional Park being the Dry Creek area. This is largely regeneration forest which has been taken out of farming operations. There are camping areas in Dry Creek however they are remote from the proposed cleanfill site. There should be minimal environmental impacts on the Regional Park. 17. The indigenous fisheries that move up the Pauatahunui stream are likely to be quite limited on the site with access restricted by perched culverts, where a pipe which protrudes at the downstream end making it difficult for fish passage. Fish would probably include banded kokopu, eel, and koaro. 18. The important aspect of the design of this facility is the site drainage system. The object of the system is to ensure that silts are trapped on site and settled out of the drainage water. 19. Great care must be taken in accepting hard fill into the cleanfill site. This means no contaminated material is to be brought onto the site. All contaminated fill should be taken to the main city council landfills which are sealed from discharge to the environment. The cleanfill will be unsealed. 20. Roading through the site will need to be managed for dust control as will the whole site particularly given the proximity of SH 58. 6 OTHER CULTURAL ISSUES 21. There are no particular cultural impacts from the proposed clean fill aside from the environmental issues. There are no cultural sites within the project area aside from the traditional Māori tracks which ran through the area. 22. The cultural issues are associated with activities that took place in the vicinity in the Hutt Valley and at Pauatahanui particularly during the volatile period from 1819 to 1850. TRADITIONAL MAORI HI STORY OF THE AREA 23. This is an area where great conflict occurred early in colonial history with conflicts over the New Zealand Company’s sale of rural acres to settlers and the displaced people