rivers Archive

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  The Christmas story: Russel Norman’s Address in Reply speech - by frog

  
  
  
  “These are the values that help to lay down the essential nature of what it means to be human and guide us to live a ‘good’ life – good to ourselves, good to one another, and good to the world in which we make our livelihoods.” – Russel Norman. Address in Reply speeches are long, [...] read more
  December 21, 2011 9:48 pm - 8 Comments
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  Frog vs Rosie in the Battle of the Waterways - by frog

  
  
  
  I’ve had a pretty good start to summer this year. We’ve had plenty of rain, the rivers and wetlands have been nice and full. In between writing blogs, I have had plenty of opportunities to frolic among the raupo as any decent self-respecting Frog should. But recently my home playground and my place as New [...] read more
  December 21, 2011 10:40 am - 2 Comments
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  Dams – sustainable and permanent? - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  In NZ we’ve often thought about dams as permanent sustainable ways to generate power and store irrigation water. But they’re not necessarily permanent as dams can become silted up and the structures deteriorate. And from the point of view of migratory fish species and flooded forests, there’s nothing sustainable about a dam. In the US they’ve had [...] read more
  September 23, 2010 9:27 am - 56 Comments
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  Rules for freshwater management? Never! - by frog

  
  
  
  Kiran Chug has a great story in this morning’s Dominion Post: the sorry tale of the proposed National Policy Statement on Freshwater management. Our rivers are getting dirtier and dirtier while this document languishes. A quick history: National policy statements are tools that can be developed under the Resource Management Act to guide local and [...] read more
  June 16, 2010 10:45 am - 11 Comments
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  An update on Russel’s dirty rivers tour - by frog

  
  
  
  Russel is rafting and kayaking down some of our most polluted lowland rivers this summer, as a fun and unusual way to draw attention to the water pollution problems in our own backyard. Click here for detailed reports and photos from each trip. Plus check out media coverage of Russel on the Manawatu, the Hutt, [...] read more
  March 5, 2010 1:45 pm - 14 Comments
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  No boat ride for me and John - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  My Dirty Rivers Rafting Tour is going so well that I invited the PM to join me. Since the launch on the Hutt River in late January, I have visited the Waihou in Waikato and the Taumarere in Northland, attracting some good local interest and starting some great conversations with locals about the state of [...] read more
  February 16, 2010 5:09 pm - 17 Comments
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  Selwyn-Waimakariri sucked dry - by frog

  
  
  
  Astonishingly a resource consent panel has just granted 41 new consents to take ground-water for irrigation from the Selwyn-Waimakariri river zone. This decision was made against the recommendations of the Canterbury Regional Council. The Council has classified the Selwyn Waimakariri zone as a Red Zone meaning based on the rivers’ ability to refill themselves that [...] read more
  October 21, 2008 1:43 pm - 6 Comments
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  Mike Joy on whitebait - by frog

  
  
  
  A few weeks ago I wrote about the serious decline in the number of whitebait in our rivers. Campbell Live had an excellent story earlier this week on the same issue, interviewing Massey University environmental scientist, Mike Joy. “If we don’t do something quickly we won’t have these species anymore, we have to do something,” [...] read more
  September 10, 2008 10:36 am - 9 Comments
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  The Southland farming debate continues - by frog

  
  
  
  P Clifford and Fulton Long’s ongoing letter writing debate exploded across the letters page of the Southland Times yesterday with 4 letters dedicated to refuting Long’s assertion that a few dirty rivers is an acceptable price to pay for economic prosperity. I promised I’d keep you up to date, so here are not just P [...] read more
  July 24, 2008 2:07 pm - 17 Comments
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  Russel rattles another - by frog

  
  
  
   Yesterday Winston, unsurprisingly, made an ethnic and not so oblique reference to Australians, in response to Russel’s first question in the house.  Today it became clear that what parliament has acquired is not just an Australian, but a Little Aussie Battler who is going to stand up for ordinary kiwis.  Check out this exchange between [...] read more
  July 2, 2008 9:44 pm - 10 Comments
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  The Mataura drain - by frog

  
  
  
  I saw this letter to the editor in the Southland Times recently and thought it was worth sharing: To save ourselves the worry and effort of cleaning up our Southland rivers, we just need to think about them in a new way. Let’s call them drains, not rivers – the Aparima drain, the Oreti drain, [...] read more
  March 13, 2008 8:22 am - 3 Comments
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  It’s time to start living here as if we plan to stay - by frog

  
  
  
  Taranaki streams are struggling under the burden of dairy effluent according to the Daily News, with twice as many cases of non-compliance as last year.  However Taranaki is not the worst province in the country: In October last year, Environment Canterbury released a report on its monitoring of resource consent compliance that found 17.7 per [...] read more
  March 11, 2008 1:19 pm - 22 Comments
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  Rob Hamill launches ‘Proud to be Green’ billboards - by frog

  
  
  
  Was that Rob Hamill and Jeanette Fitzsimons I saw in a cherry-picker on Newton Road this afternoon? Hamill is probably best known for smashing the world record for the Atlantic Rowing Race in 1997.  I never knew he supported the Greens.  Seems he and Jeanette were putting the last staples into one of several ‘Proud [...] read more
  March 7, 2008 10:56 pm - 47 Comments
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  The Waiongana River - by frog

  
  
  
  As requested here’s a few pictures of the Waiongana River taken on February 23. Several of Taranaki’s beaches had health warnings against swimming recently because of high bacteria content in the rivers flowing out to sea. read more
  March 7, 2008 10:22 pm - No Comments
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  Replacing Canterbury rivers with cows - by frog

  
  
  
  While the Waipawa River in the Hawke’s Bay quickly disappears because of being over irrigated, it seems Canterbury is exploring ways of irrigating more rivers: Central Plains Water Trust has applied for a number of resource consents relating to the construction and operation of a large scale irrigation scheme. The applicants propose irrigating 60,000 hectares [...] read more
  February 26, 2008 8:59 am - 17 Comments
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  Race weekend - by frog

  
  
  
  There are three interesting races this weekend. The Coast to Coast leaves Kumara this morning with reports that drought conditions on the Waimakariri river* are such that there is no chance of any records being broken. Presumably kayaks don’t go too fast when they are dragging along the bottom of a river bed. Race organisers [...] read more
  February 8, 2008 8:42 am - 17 Comments