Adovcates 24/4

It has been a busy period for the Advocates over the last few months. I have decided to break this piece into sections, and I definitely recommend reading to the end. There is some breaking news for the fishing inclined amongst you. 

Topics covered in this blog: 

  • Advocates for the Tongariro AGM 
  • Department for Conservation activity/AFTR AGM 
  • WRC Annual Works Plan for the Tongariro River update 
  • Genesis met at AFTR committee meeting 
  • AFTR annual membership drive 
  • BREAKING NEWS- New fishing access 

 Advocates for the Tongariro River AGM 

The 2024 Advocates for the Tongariro Annual General Meeting was held on Saturday June 1st, at Parklands Motor Lodge conference room. 

The years AGM was significant as we saw a change in leadership. After nine years as Chairperson/President, Gary Brown called time and passed the baton onto Carl Bergstrom. Due to the term ”President” being no longer allowed for charitable societies, we now use the term Chairperson. 

Gary was an excellent Chair/President over the period. Gary’s Committee meetings were always well run, with the tone light and energetic. Throughout his period as Chair/President, Gary saw a real mixture of issues to navigate. These issues varied from seeing off a fish farm resource consent application, to having to keep the light on the ever-present wilding pine threat, and everything in between. 

Gary has had a long association with the Tongariro River and wishes to see the river remain as a world famous, iconic trout river that attracts from all over the globe. Gary fished here with his father as a boy and knew many of the people from before the Tongariro power scheme was built. 

Gary will continue his tenure on the Committee, further adding to his service that started back in 2011.  

Carl now takes over as Chairman. A tireless worker with a corporate background from the highest levels, Carl brings is own effective style of leader to the Advocates. 

Apart from seeing the change at Chair, Bridget  Sullivan was warmly formalised as a committee member. Bridget is an accomplished trout fisher. With a sharp analytical mind, Bridget’s skills and insight are welcomed on the committee. 

The Charities Act 2023 

The task of re-registering as a Society under the revamped 2023 Charities Act, is complete!!   Thank you to new Chair Carl Bergstrom for a lot of work. 

DOC at the AFTR AGM 

The AGM’s star guest was Sarah Tunnicliffe from the Department of Conservation (DOC). Sarah explained the current DOC strategy and resource allocation with regards to the river surrounds. Grade one weeds such as Old Man’s Beard can be sprayed, but lesser weeds such as Convolvulus cannot. Sarah said that Nick Singers is to write a vegetation plan for the river on DOC’s behalf. 

Sarah explained Warwick Simmonds is responsible for maintenance of the Tongariro River trail (TRT) through a contract between the Prison and DOC. It was observed by committee members that the work completed so far is excellent and suggested that river views could be improved through this work and further weed control was welcomed. 

The Committee said that it looked like some of the work done by DOC could be considered WRC work and vice versa, and maybe there was room for increased co-ordination between the two. Richard Kemp offered that we were willing to help where we can and have some success through lobbying at seeing logical outcomes prevail. The Chair thanked Sarah for her valuable contribution and Sarah was told she was welcome at our meetings at anytime. 

 DOC personal are obviously key members of the Tongariro River community. Dave Lumley has been a long term DOC personality and is a past Fishery  Manager. Dave has retired and we wish him well. The current Fishery Manager is Dave Conley and Dave has had his brief expanded to include being the lead of the DOC Turangi team. We wish him well in his expanded responsibilities and offer an open door to meet with him at any time. 

 Latest update on work from Sarah was as follows: 

“We are continuing to target the weeds along the TRT and have planted manuka on the lookout track to replace the weeds and cherries that were there. We have some more time scheduled this month for a big push on wilding conifers and cherries also along the track – towards the SH1 bridge. There are exciting things ahead for the river, so we will be in touch as that evolves”. 

 WRC Annual River Works Programme update- of sorts 

The Waikato Regional Council (WRC) annual works plan for the Tongariro River has been a subject of this blog before. The below is summarised from Carl Bergstrom.

”Waikato Regional Council Annual Works Programme – Flood Protection 

We have had a number of engagements with WRC regarding the Annual Works Plan for the Tongariro flood protection scheme which is designed to ensure that the township and community will be safe in a 1-in-100 year flood.

Last year we made a detailed submission on the plan outlining our concerns particularly about the lack of focus on invasive vegetation management (e.g. willow, broom, wilding pines) as this can compromise the flood scheme in a number of ways.

We also asked for a commitment to carry out a cross-sectional survey of the relevant section of the river to “pressure test” the scheme’s ability to cope and to inform and prioritise future work. This was last done in 2016/17 and was overdue for refreshment. 

We are pleased to report that the 2024 plan satisfactorily addresses these concerns and is a big step up from the previous plan. Furthermore the recruitment of Taupo based managers who are responsible for this work should assist in the implementation. It is now up to WRC to engage with the respective land owners and carry out the work. 

Separate to this, following our aerial survey of the river after cyclone Gabrielle which showed a large number of fallen pines in the upper river flood path, WRC have undertaken to monitor these after any flood exceeding 500cumecs to ensure that they have not moved to a position where they could become a danger to the flood scheme, and to take mitigating action if required”. 

Further meetings have played out between WRC staff and stakeholders in June and July, albeit with varying success. The next meetings are scheduled for 23rd Nov and 25th Jan. We will engage with all stakeholders on this matter and hope that engagement improves so knowledge of what is required to be done is clear. Even if a process to getting the work done is not at this time. As they say- with time solutions always present themselves. Whilst I am pun excusing myself- this is a work in progress.  

 Genesis met at AFTR committee meeting 

The below is summarised from Eric Wilson, 

”At our recent committee meeting on August 2nd, we were joined by Genesis staff Gareth Gray (Renewable Energy Control Centre Manager and Principal Hydrologist) and Royce Hargeaves(Hydro Operator Maintainer- Tokaanu Power Station). 

The initiation of this visit was driven by the desire for a deeper understanding how the power scheme interacts with the workings of the river, and in particular sedimentation.  The relation of flow rates and the amount of flushing of the river required to maintain the health of the riverbed and surrounds, of particular note. 

Gareth and Royce provided an overview of parts of the Tongariro power scheme relevant to the Tongariro River, and how they are managed to satisfy the requirements of the respective resource consents. Cumecs= Cubic Meters per Sec 

– A minimum flow of 16 cumecs to be maintained below the Poutu intake. 

– A maximum of 80 cumecs of water to be taken at Poutu intake- practical maximum circa 65 cumecs 

– The gates of the Poutu intake to be closed if the flow above intake exceeds 160 cumecs (this takes around 2 hours as a process). 

 There was detailed and robust discussion around the impacts of power scheme operations may or may not be having on the river in terms of sedimentation in the lower river and gravel infilling in the middle sections. The river needs periods of high flow in order to clear itself for the health of the river system. In recent years , including the wild 2023 summer, average flows in the river have been at well below average levels. 

The AFTR questioned what a possible cause was for the abrupt drop in flow rates following rainfall events, where the rivers would rise naturally, but then drop suddenly. The explanation was that once the flow rate above the intake falls below the 160 cumecs then the gates would be re-opened and the flow rate down river could drop quite rapidly. Bridget noted that this seems to have been occurring at flow rates less than the 160 cumecs required to close Poutu gates. It was agreed that Bridget would provide some screenshots of the flow graphs to Gareth. Gareth stated that he would then look at operations data for those dates and check nothing else was going on, and if there was anything else that could be done better. Gareth then noted that recently, there was a tendency for short rainfall events, or weatherbombs, and maybe these were a factor. 

 We also explained our concern at the rapid expanse of invasive vegetation on the riverbed and surrounds. Whilst there are many reasons why this has become prolific in the last few years. It certainly hasn’t been helped by the lack of persistent high flow events, as these would not have enabled much of it to take hold. The power scheme curbing the natural flow of the river does have an impact. We asked Genesis if they would consider partnering with financial support to assist community projects to help rectify the current situation. Gareth and Royce said they would assist us by liaising with the appropriate people at Genesis and advise us on how best to approach for assistance”. 

AFTR annual membership drive 

A message from our able Treasurer John Toogood.  

Just a friendly reminder to renew your subs for this year. Your continued membership is very valuable to the Society’s plausibility and position with all parties/stakeholders involved with the river. 

Re payment, there is no need to fill out the membership form if you are just repeating last year’s subs/donations. We will pick it up in the bank. It is only required if there are any changes to them or your contact details – in which case either fill in the active pdf attached and return by email or go to the website – https://tongariroriver.org.nz/join-the-advocates – and choose one of the options there. It is a good idea to keep a copy of the receipt we send as a record for the current year. 

BREAKING NEWS- New fishing access  

ESTABLISHMENT OF JOCK’S REACH ACCESS 

Kindly written by Gary Brown,  whose asistance was integral in helping this initiative happen.

At an Advocates committee meeting earlier this year one of our committee members Virginia Church mentioned the possibility of creating an access track from the Te Awamete road extension to the lower reaches of the Tongariro river. 

Over recent years our Advocates committee have had many discussions regarding the possibility of providing better angling access to the lower reaches of the river. Many of our proposals have been thwarted by the difficulty in obtaining access across privately owned land. 

Virginia’s suggestion was to provide an access track across land controlled by she & her whanau .  

The start of the track would be approximately 40m north of where the Te Awamate road extension (legally a paper road ) crosses Deep creek— a Tongariro river tributary. 

Following discussions with Virginia’s son Douglas it was agreed that the Church family would contract to the Advocates to create the track which involved clearing scrub and forming the track which is approximately one kilometer in length from the road to the river. At the river the track links up with an old riverside track which gives access to the nearest fishing pool which we have named Jock’s Reach in recognition of Virginia’s husband Jock-the Church family Kaumatua. 

The track has now been formed & provides a 7—8 minute walk to the river, with a further 7—8 minute walk to the nearest accessible fishing water (Jock’s Reach). 

We are currently looking into the possibility of providing further angling access with short tracks from the Riverside track to the river. 

We have provided a sign which has now been erected at the track entrance to advise anglers and the public that to access the new track. The track crosses privately owned land courtesy of the Church family and must respect this fact. 

Douglas Church has also agreed to provide a metaled car park area at the track entrance which we expect will be in place in the near future. 

Some of our committee members have already caught some nice fish at Jock’s Reach, although they do report having to dodge the usual snags prevalent in the lower river pools. 

 As an organisation, we whole heartedly thank the Church Whanau and the other private landowners for enabling this community minded initiative, Ngā mihi nui ki a koe.