Save Okura Estuary 2016

SAVE OKURA Protecting The Estuary For Future Generations

Long Bay - Okura Great Park Society

Okura Estuary • The Okura Estuary and its surrounding parks and reserves are unique and irreplaceable to a growing Auckland. With over one million visitors a year and only 20 minutes from the CBD it is the place that all Aucklanders can go to immerse themselves in a wilderness coastal and estuarine environment.

Community groups have fought for over thirty years is to ensure it is not spoilt by urbanisation or damaged by pollutants. • We need your help in raising funds to continue to protect this area.

Why Is Okura So Important?

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The amenity values for the city are invaluable. Over 70,000 people walk the Okura Bush walkway each year and one million visit the Long Bay Regional Park.

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The area is part of Te Araroa Trail and potentially part of the northern section of the Te Ara Moana Kayak Trail.

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The estuary is an important location for recreational boat users.

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It is widely used by Auckland schools, scout groups, social groups, MERC and AUT University area to support social and educational goals.

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It has regular and growing tourist numbers.

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It has potential to become a hub for tourism operators.

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It is strongly supported by community groups who have for decades controlled pests, planted trees, managed council reserves and the Dacre Cottage historic building, washed public toilets, held public events and fought to protect this area in its current and improved state for future generations to be able to enjoy.

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The Long Bay-Okura Marine Reserve, including the Okura Estuary, has the highest ecological rating Council can award.

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Okura Bush Walkway and northern end of the Long Bay Regional Park are classified as an Outstanding Natural Landscape (ONL). Also the highest classification of its kind.

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In other words it is Auckland’s last piece of our coastal zone with all these values and hence is irreplaceable.

Okura Estuary Wildlife •

Abundant wildlife can been seen including the rare NZ dotterel and variable oyster catchers along with tui, kereru, oyster-catcher, pied stilt, white-faced heron, fantail, grey warbler, kingfisher, harrier hawk, tern, and even royal spoonbills on occasion.

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The waters of the estuary boil with fish and it is very common to see them leaping out of the water or stingray gliding along in the shallows.

Orca, dolphin and the occasional seal are also seen.

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Visitors always comment on the tranquil bush and rural ambience that surrounds an estuary so close to Auckland.

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A place to get away from the city bustle.

Proposed Development The land on the south-eastern shores of the Okura Estuary is currently zoned to allow for minimum sized lots of four hectares (ten acres), as ruled by a 1996 Environment Court decision and confirmed by the Court in 2003.

The primary reasons for this restriction included concerns about risks to the marine ecology of the estuary, protection of the exceptional landscape of the area and that this was a last opportunity for future generations of Aucklanders to experience an estuary in natural condition.

Okura Holdings Limited (OHL), a subsidiary of the Todd Property Group (TPG), owns approximately 130 ha of this land and sought in the Unitary Plan process to change the current zoning to allow it to subdivide its land to create a residential development of 750 – 1000 houses similar to the TPG Long Bay development close by.

Additionally, other adjacent landowners sought to have their land rezoned. The Auckland Council rejected this development and this opens the way for an appeal.

New photo - Shae

2. Long Bay - Okura Marine Reserve

1. Okura Scenic Bush Reserve

3. Area proposed for urbanisation

4. Long Bay Regional Park

5. RUB

The environment that makes this place so special for Auckland is at risk of being lost forever by the threat of urban development which we believe will adversely impact everything that is regarded so highly now.

Threats to the Okura Estuary and Environs If urban development were to occur at Okura: 1. We believe there would be a high risk of sediment and an accumulation of heavy metals in storm water run-off polluting the estuary and permanently harming the marine biota. The rich birdlife could be detrimentally affected by the loss of their feeding grounds and by human activities damaging habitats in and around the estuary. Cats and dogs would pose further threats.

2. The rural landscape of the area would be drastically changed to one of an intensive urbanscape. The current zoning of 4 ha minimum lot sizes would have a far less radical impact on the landscape that the intensive housing proposed.

3. Houses would abut the northern end of the Park, spoiling the rural and remote ambience of the northern end of the park. What was an easily-accessible, yet tranquil spot with stunning views could be overlooked by dense urban housing, thus counteracting the intent of the Long Bay rules protecting the visual amenity of the park.

4. The rural, remote experience for those walking the Okura Bush Track would be greatly diminished. It would no longer feel as though one were in a rural bush setting with the richness that Okura Bush currently provides but one similar to walking through a regular city park bordered by housing.

5. The educational and recreational opportunities for future generations of Aucklanders and tourists to experience an estuary in natural condition in close proximity to the city would be lost.

6. If urbanisation occurs, we believe it would be a devastating blow to the environment.

What Can You Do To Help?

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We need to be able to pay for our legal team and specialists to ensure that during the Environment Court hearing, all pertinent evidence is put before the judge. To do this, we need to raise $300,000 in the next three months.

• We have a dedicated volunteer group that has fought for the protection of this area for decades.

• We have raised over $640,000 in the past ten years.

• We have won time and again against massive odds.

• But now, in what we believe will be the final battle to save this land in its rural state, the process is moving at such a speed that our ability to raise the required funds in such a short time is extremely stretched.

So we appeal to you.

Can you please support us with a large donation and become part of the team.

This team will be remembered for years to come as the one that won a monumental battle to leave something of our coastal wilderness for the future generations to enjoy.

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You can post a cheque to: PO Box 35-348, Browns Bay, Auckland Or make a direct bank payment to: Long Bay - Okura Great Park Society ASB account: 12-3053-0467134-00 Donations are tax-deductible and receipts will be posted by return mail

Marine Reserve

Classification of the Okura area

Okura is one of the last unspoilt estuaries in Auckland. The Long Bay Okura Marine Reserve of which the Estuary is part is regenerating with abundant marine life including mullet, snapper and stingray and the small biota they feed on. Dolphin and orca are now seen regularly in the Estuary, and there is the occasional visit by seals.

The value of the Okura ecology and landscape has been recognised in the special classifications given to features within the area.

• The Marine Reserve and Bush Reserve are each classified to the highest level of Significant Ecological Area (Marine and Terrestrial respectively)

As well, the Estuary is home to a variety of at risk shore birds like the pied stilt, the variable oystercatcher and the critically endangered New Zealand dotterel. The waters and banks of the Estuary and bays in the Marine Reserve are rich feeding grounds for hundreds of migratory sea birds whose habitats are under pressure from urbanisation internationally.

The setting of the Marine Reserve forms a remarkable landscape.

• Extensive coastal areas on the southern shores of the Okura Estuary are classified as Significant Ecological Areas – Terrestrial.

Long Bay Regional Park Long Bay Regional Park is the most popular of all of Auckland’s regional parks. Close to Auckland’s CBD, it is easily accessible and has over one million visitors each year.

The northern half of the park affords the public a remote rural ‘get-away-from-it-all’ experience, with spectacular views of the Hauraki Gulf. Specific rules governing the adjacent Long Bay development recognised the importance of this experience.

They made provision that this remote rural feeling would be protected by not allowing dense urban housing to intrude into or be seen from this end of the park.

Okura Scenic Bush Reserve Owned by the Department of Conservation, the Okura Bush Reserve is a large stand of lush mature native forest with kauri and puriri over 500 years old. It is one of the last remaining intact stands of coastal broadleaf and kauri forest in Auckland.

About thirty different species of birds live in the reserve, including a number of native species, as well as a range of ‘at risk’ other native animal species such as three species of native lizards. The Reserve is a critical link as a dispersal pathway for plants and animals within the North-West Wild-link forest fragment linkage.

Over 70,000 visitors annually walk the Okura Bush Track which is part of Te Araroa Walkway. The site of the OHL proposal for urbanisation is clearly seen within a short distance across the water from numerous viewpoints on the walkway.

• The Marine Reserve, Bush Reserve and most of the northern end of the Regional Park are classified as an Outstanding Natural Landscape.

These classifications give increased protections against any form of degradation to these areas.

It lies within a Marine Reserve, is bordered to the north by a Department of Conservation reserve of lush, mature native forest, and to the south-east,

by Auckland’s most frequented regional park, a park which offers the people of Auckland an accessible experience of remoteness from suburbia and spectacular views of the estuary and Hauraki Gulf. Located just 25 km north of Auckland’s CBD, nowhere else is there such a combination of such stunning features so close to a major city in New Zealand.

The Long Bay-Okura Great Park Society, with and as part of the Okura Environmental Group, in response to Okura Holdings Ltd’s proposal for urban development at Okura, acted on behalf of concerned community citizens and groups to uphold the outcomes of the two previous Okura Environmental Court cases, during the proceedings of the Auckland Unitary Plan.

Prior to this, the Society on behalf of over 60,000 supporters successfully fought a landmark case in the Environment Court which resulted in the protection of the beautiful natural landscape of the Long Bay Regional Park. The proposed residential development was pushed back from the edge of the Park creating a substantial buffer zone between the Park and intensive housing. Rules were developed that minimised damage to the adjacent Marine Reserve from stormwater run-off.

The community raised $500,000 to fight this.

Members of he Okura Environmental Group have also been involved in an earlier Environment Court case which had prevented intensive residential development on the south-eastern edge of the Okura Estuary in order to protect the waters and landscape of the Estuary.

We need to ensure that all opportunities to defend their decisions are undertaken and the only effective way for us to do this is to be involved in the court proceedings.

This is nothing new to us and we are experienced in these battles and have a huge volunteer group in support. However to be as effective as possible we need experts in many areas and legal support and alas this all requires money. That is what we are asking you to help fund.

Long Bay-Okura Great Park Society Background The society has been actively involved in the Auckland Unitary Plan process to protect the special qualities of the Estuary and its environs and applauded Auckland Council’s decision to not allow the catchments of the Estuary to be urbanised.

However, this decision has been appealed in the Environment Court by the owners of the land on the south-eastern shores of the Estuary who wish to proceed with an extensive housing development.

The Society, in order to save this unique treasure from the damaging impact of development, must go to Court, a very costly process (in the realm of $300,000). The Society is seeking substantial financial support from the community to continue its fight to do this.

PLEASE, WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Rare Variable Oyster Catchers

Breeding On The Okura Estuary

For more info: If you’d like to speak with us and find out more, please contact: Fundraising Manager, Peter Townend 027 4529 255 or Convener, Chris Bettany 021 0204 0435 for Long Bay-Okura Great Park Society

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