Your Catchment, Your Future: MCC Draft Plan Released
The Draft Motueka Catchment Plan has been published on the Motueka Catchment Collective website.
This plan reflects the efforts of the MCC and the catchment community over the past three years, and sets out a long term vision, focus areas, and actions to implement the plan.
This visual to the right shows who the Motueka Catchment Collective is made up of, indicating the strong community base to the group supported by many.
Below are the vision, values and objectives of the Motueka Catchment Collective. These set a framework and structure for the plan strategy and actions.
The plan was informed by an analysis of the key ecological foundations and aspects of the catchment the catchment community cares about (shown above), and the pressures or challenges to these things we care about.
Pressures/challenges can be reduced by community action, bringing the catchment back into balance, as shown in this catchment resilience framework diagram.
This framework then sets the context for the overall vision of the plan for 2125:
- Ecological Resilience where Nature Thrives. In particular where rivers & streams flow naturally, buffered by wide riparian margins and shaded by native vegetation. Straightened reaches have been re-meandered, reconnecting floodplains and restoring flow variability. Sediment and nutrient loads are low, and rivers are clear and cool. Freshwater species like īnanga, tuna, and kōaro are abundant and self-sustaining. Wetlands, native forest and species and estuaries are also restored and thriving.
- Land Stewardship & Flood Preparedness
where land use supports both productivity and ecological health, shaped by those who know their whenua best. - Community Connection: Restoration is a Shared Journey
Restoration is visible, celebrated, and woven into daily life - Cultural Leadership: Te Ao Māori Guides the Way
Te Mana o te Wai is embedded in freshwater decisions.
The Plan is in draft form. While considerable consultation has already occurred, including involving MCC thematic groups, the MCC Steering Group, iwi, key stakeholders and experts, there hasn’t yet been any formal consultation with the wider catchment community, and further work is needed to ensure the plan reflects the aspirations of MCC and the community it supports.
Over the next few months, members of the MCC will be seeking the perspectives of community members, key groups and stakeholders and experts to check the contents of the plan. The community can expect to see a survey being sent to them in the next month or so asking some key questions about the direction of the plan, along with a shorter, more concise version of the plan.