15 Indigenous Biodiversity 15.1 OBJECTIVES AND POLICIES Objective IB1 Maintenance of the full range of the District’s indigenous habitats and ecosystems, including through restoration and enhancement. Policy 1 To promote and encourage the protection, restoration and enhancement of indigenous biodiversity, using a range of methods such as subdivision incentives, assistance, education and ecological corridors, whilst giving priority to significant biodiversity sites. Policy 2 To recognise sustainable land management practices and cooperative industry arrangements that reflect the principles of stewardship and kaitiākitanga, and to take into account the range of alternative methods in the maintenance and protection of indigenous biodiversity, including Tasman Forest Accord, NZFOA Forest Accord, Iwi Management Plans, Bay of Plenty Regional Council biodiversity management plans and protective covenants with the QEII Trust and Nga Whenua Rāhui. Objective IB2 Areas of indigenous vegetation and habitats of indigenous fauna identified as significant in Schedules 15.7.1, 15.7.2 and 15.7.3 are protected. Policy 1 To ensure that subdivision, use and development, is undertaken in a manner that protects scheduled Significant Indigenous Biodiversity Sites by: a. in the coastal environment, avoiding adverse effects including the loss, fragmentation or degradation of those sites and cumulative effects on ecosystems; and b. outside the coastal environment, avoiding, and where avoidance is not practicable, remedying or mitigating adverse effects including the loss, fragmentation or degradation of those sites and the cumulative effects on ecosystems. Policy 2 To enable and encourage subdivision, land use and development that enhances indigenous biodiversity through the protection and enhancement of significant biodiversity sites. Policy 3 To determine the significance of indigenous vegetation and habitats of indigenous fauna using criteria in Appendix F Set 3 Indigenous Vegetation and Habitats of Indigenous Fauna of the Bay of Plenty Regional Policy Statement and for sites in the coastal environment using the criteria listed in Policy 11 of the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement 2010. Policy 4 To require the restoration and rehabilitation of ecosystems and habitats, on or off sites, where the avoidance of adverse effects on Significant Indigenous Biodiversity Sites is not possible. Policy 5 To provide for the sustainable use of indigenous vegetation including Scheduled Significant Indigenous Biodiversity Sites where the adverse effects of this use are minor. 21 June 2017 Chapter 15 – Indigenous Biodiversity 15-1 15.2 RULES The following standards and terms apply to Permitted, Controlled, and Restricted Discretionary activities and will be used as a guide for Discretionary and Non-Complying activities. 15.2.1 Activity Status Table 15.2.1.1 The rules in this Activity Status Table relate only to any Significant Indigenous Biodiversity sites listed in Schedule A 15.7.1, Schedule B 15.7.2 and Schedule C 15.7.3. 15.2.1.2 Clearance of indigenous vegetation outside of Significant Indigenous Biodiversity Sites in Schedules 15.7.1, 15.7.2 and 15.7.3 is a permitted activity. Key P = Permitted D = Discretionary C = Controlled NC = Non-Complying RD = Restricted Discretionary Pr = Prohibited Schedule A Schedule C Schedule B Item Activity Status Coastal and Te Urewera Foothills Wetlands - Whirinaki 1. From the date of notification of this Plan to the date of adoption of the new Operative Plan, indigenous vegetation clearance within a Scheduled feature, P P P where all of the vegetation in the area to be cleared is not significant (see Rule 15.2.4.1). 2. Indigenous vegetation clearance, earthworks or structures within a scheduled feature that is in accordance with specific covenants or other legal instruments including; a. a Consent Notice or covenant for the protection of indigenous vegetation and habitats with the Council; b. a Biodiversity Management Plan or a Wetland Management Agreement approved by Bay of Plenty Regional Council or a resource consent from the Bay of Plenty Regional Council described in Rule 15.2.4.2; P P P c. a covenant for the protection of indigenous vegetation and habitats approved by Department of Conservation, d. a covenant for the protection of indigenous vegetation and habitats with the QEII Trust; e. a covenant for the protection of indigenous vegetation and habitats with Nga Whenua Rāhui; and f. a covenant for the protection of indigenous vegetation and habitats empowered under Treaty claims settlement legislation. 3. Indigenous vegetation clearance, earthworks, or structures in a scheduled feature carried out in accordance with a Conservation Management P P P Strategy, or management plan under the Reserves Act 1977, Conservation Act 1987, the National Parks Act 21 June 2017 Chapter 15 – Indigenous Biodiversity 15-2 1980, Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993, or Te Urewera Act 2014. 4. Indigenous vegetation clearance, earthworks, or structures in a scheduled feature which is provided for in an Iwi or Hapū Management Plan approved by an P P P iwi authority which provides for the protection and maintenance of biodiversity, and which has been lodged with Council under s74(2A) of the RMA. 5. Any activities, other than those in 1 or 2 above, required for the protection, maintenance and restoration of any indigenous vegetation or habitat of indigenous species, P P P a. plant and animal pest control measures b. replanting in indigenous species c. fencing to exclude stock or pests. 6. Any clearance of indigenous vegetation which is: a. harvesting of mānuka or kānuka (excluding kānuka in the Rural Coastal Zone) for on-site domestic firewood purposes provided that the quantity does not exceed 10m3 per dwelling per annum and that NC P P an area equal to that harvested annually is replanted in the same year in the same or similar indigenous species or allowed to naturally regenerate; b. recovery of windfall and dead wood for domestic P firewood; c. within 2m of, and is part of the maintenance of, existing roads, structures, tracks (excluding walking P tracks), earth dams or fence lines or Lake Matahina Dam deformation survey points and sightlines; d. within 2m of, and is part of the formation of new P boundary fence lines whether or not on the legal cadastral boundary; e. for the formation of new walking tracks or P maintenance of existing walking tracks not exceeding 1.5m wide; f. within 10m of an existing dwelling, or within a building platform nominated and approved at the P time of subdivision; g. nominated and approved at the time of subdivision, P in the high to extreme fire hazard areas (see Appendix 18.7.3); h. trimming or pruning, along, under or above a work P or network utility or for sightlines along roads; and i. necessary for public safety. P 7. Clearance of up to 2000m2 of indigenous vegetation NC D RD 21 June 2017 Chapter 15 – Indigenous Biodiversity 15-3 per year, where the sum of all disturbances does not exceed 2 hectares or 10% of the scheduled feature on that site whichever is the lesser (from the date of notification of the Plan, 28 June 2013). 7.a Clearance of up to 300m2 of indigenous vegetation over a period of three years, excluding wetlands, indigenous dunelands, geothermal surface features, Pohutukawa forest, indigenous forests on alluvial plains, riparian margins (other than the riparian D RD C margins of Lake Matahina) and ecological sequences (e.g. from the salt marsh to forest), where the sum of all disturbances does not exceed 5% of the scheduled feature on that site (from the date of notification of the Plan, 28 June 2013). 8. Clearance of more than 2,000m2 of indigenous vegetation (excluding unlogged primary forest) per year, where the sum of all disturbances does not NC D D exceed 2 hectares or 10% of the scheduled feature on that site, whichever is the lesser (from the date of notification of the Plan, 28 June 2013). 9. Harvesting of mānuka and kānuka, excluding any kānuka in the Rural Coastal Zone, for commercial use provided that; a. an area equal to that harvested annually is replanted within one year in the same or similar indigenous species or allowed to naturally regenerate; b. the replanted or regenerating area is not subject to any further harvesting operation until at least D RD P1 twenty years has elapsed from the commencement of replanting or regeneration; c. no more than 10% of the total area of kānuka and mānuka in a scheduled feature on any site is harvested in any one year; and d. kānuka and mānuka is harvested only from identified areas where kānuka and mānuka represent at least 80% of the vegetation canopy cover. 10. Except as provided for in Activity 8 above, harvesting of indigenous species under a Sustainable Forest NC RD RD Management Plan, under the Forests Act 1949. 11. Placement or construction of a building within a scheduled feature, not within an approved building platform; a. where the entire lot is covered by the scheduled feature; or C C C b. there is no practicable alternative option outside of the feature (this activity does not include any associated vegetation clearance which would be covered by Activities 7 and 8) 11.a Placement or construction of a building within a P P P scheduled feature, where the building is within a 1 RD activity status applies where grazing is proposed during the natural regeneration phase 21 June 2017 Chapter 15 – Indigenous Biodiversity 15-4 building platform approved at the time of subdivision. 11.b Placement or construction of a building within a scheduled feature, not within an approved building platform; a. where the feature does not cover the entire lot; and NC NC NC b. practicable alternative sites exist on the lot outside the feature (This activity does not include any associated vegetation clearance which would be covered by Activities 7 or 8) 11.c Placement or construction of a building within a scheduled feature, not within an approved building platform; and a.