Manuherekia Integrated Catchment Enhancement Plan

The Manuherekia River catchment in Central Otago is one of the driest regions in New Zealand.

It is a rugged, scenic landscape valued by its residents and visitors who come to appreciate the solitude, ride the rail trail or fly fish. During the 1860s, the catchment was the focus of alluvial gold mining rush, with impacts on the landscape and river still evident. The catchment has subsequently been transformed by agricultural production with a series of three dams, constructed in the 1930s enabling irrigation of over 8000ha of pastures and various crops in the valley bottom, with dry-stock production in the mountains.

The upper catchment is under formal protection, but the tussock grassland and remnant forest are at risk from pressure from various land-uses change and competing demand for the limited water resources mean the catchment has been plagued by conflict over water allocation, and water quality issues in low flow periods.

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The declining health of the catchment prompted the Ministry of Environment to fund the development of an Integrated Catchment Enhancement Plan (ICEP).

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Morphum was contracted to support the development of the ICEP. This involved a stock-take and review of information to document the health of the catchment and the associated implications for the social fabric, economy and cultural values linked to the landscape. Morphum used this understanding to structure and refine the over 400 ideas and actions that emerged from the community engagement process facilitated by Heather Collins consulting (HCC).

Morphum further supported HCC in designing and running a prioritisation process with the Project Governance group. The final step involved refining the action plan for the 16 prioritised actions and assigning high level costing to inform the deed of funding grant. Fundamental to the success of any ICEP, which are intergenerational in nature, is the establishment of appropriate governance framework that ensures its sustainability. This requires the identification of an appropriate institutional home – which secures community ownership of the plan and builds on existing community priorities and effort. Morphum analysed various options and provided recommendations which resulted in the Manuherekia Catchment Group, assuming this responsibility and building capacity to make the plan happen.

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Together, the community and local groups now have the plan, governance and next steps to enhance a beautiful area of Te Waipounamu, leaving a positive legacy for generations to come.

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The project has since been successful in implementing many of the priority actions https://www.mcg.org.nz/.

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