Water quality, erosion and climate change are some of the issues facing landowners in the Te Manaia sub-catchment of Tauranga Harbour.

The Te Manaia sub-catchment of Tauranga Harbour.

These are some of the issues discussed by the landowners with Bay of Plenty Regional Council staff and councillors at a meeting held during the week.

It was hosted by the council along with Kaimai Catchment Project partners NZ Landcare Trust and Department of Conservation.

The meeting was called to share information with landowners in the sub-catchment and gain their feedback on what land and water management issues they considered to be most important.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council manager land resources (western) Robyn Skelton says it was great to hear what landowners within the catchment saw as issues and priorities.

'Te Manaia landowners were very interested in the sediment and water quality data that was presented to them at the meeting,” says Robyn.

'Landowners also expressed concern about contaminants that may be entering the stream and were keen for the council to approach and work with landowners to resolve this.”

During the meeting issues about silt, nutrients and e-coli were raised by the landowners.

Also discussed was the need for water quality monitoring of nutrient run-off, climate change and its impacts such as sea level rise, coastal erosion, increased rainfall, weed species changes and droughts.

Robyn says that along with valuable information gathered regarding erosion and sedimentation issues faced by landowners, there was also a desire by landowners to get involved in wetland restoration.

'Landowners expressed the need for management plans to assist with the development and restoration of wetlands.

'We're looking forward to using this information to further develop our catchment plans so that what we plan to do actually works for the landowners on the ground.”

The information collected will also contribute to furthering the Kaimai Catchments Project – a multi-agency approach to enabling community-led catchment management and will help to inform local strategic planning for the Department of Conservation.