Application to drain swamp

Press, 4 March 1982, Page 18

Application to drain swamp

A water rights application opposed by the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society has been heard by the water committee tribunal of the North Canterbury Catchment Board. A Hanmer Valley farmer, Mr J. W. Wilson, has applied for permission to drain 40 ha of swampland on his property into the Percival River. The drainage was necessary to make the land productive enough to support both himself and his son who together farmed the property, he said. The application was recommended by the board’s investigating officer, Mr M. J. Bowden, after consultation with fisheries research and the Wildlife Division of the Internal Affairs Department. There were no rare species in the area and, because it had been drained previously, it was not in a natural state, he said. However, the Canterbury branch of the Forest and

Bird Society has objected to the application. Its submission was presented by Mr B. A. Calder. The Wildlife Service had limited resources and, therefore, concentrated its efforts on saving rare species, he said. “What will happen is that others will drop into that category because their interests are being neglected,” Mr Calder said. The society wanted to retain the present distribution of birds which meant protecting their habitats, he said. The chairman of the tribunal, Mr J. W. Levy, said that it would give its decision at the next meeting of the board but that Mr Wilson might reasonably expect his application to be granted. Other members of the tribunal were Messrs R. B. Johnson, T. N. D. Anderson, O. J. Osborne, and Dr B. P. J. Molloy.