Sherry River Community
Research Status: OngoingSherry River field day - November 2007 |
Introduction
The Sherry River is a 7800 ha sub-catchment in the upper reaches of the Motueka River situated in Tasman District, Nelson. Made up of forestry in the upper end of the valley with a mix of dairy, sheep & beef units and a few smaller lifestyle blocks.
Following monitoring work in the early days of the ICM programme, the Sherry River was identified as a hot spot of fecal contamination. This led to the formation of the Sherry River Catchment Group and the cow crossing experiments that ultimately saw the 4 significant crossings bridged.
The group became motivated to do more once subsequent monitoring revealed that, although there was a significant reduction in bacterial contamination, the water quality still exceeded the guidelines for contact recreation standards. So it became clear that in order to gain further improvements in water quality a range of other best environmental practices were required. A successful application was made to the Sustainable Farming Fund to enable environmental farm plans to be prepared and this work began in 2007.
Research Approach
Meetings facilitated by the NZ Landcare Trust in association with the ICM programme have enabled a group of landowners in the catchment to come together as a landcare or catchment group.
Their current primary aim is to get the water quality of the Sherry River down to contact recreational bathing standards by carrying out a range of best practices under an umbrella of environmental farm planning that is supported via Maf's Sustainable Farming Fund.
Research Results
A workshop was held on 26th of October to bring people up to date on progress and developments.
Riparian management at Roy Bensemann's farm |
Farm meeting around farm planning |
Recent Publications
Recent Presentations
BMPs, BEPs and Guidelines
Title | Description |
Culvert and Bridge Construction Guidelines for Farmers |
From guide: These guidelines provide dairy farmers considering constructing a culvert or bridg...More » |
Clean Streams: A Guide to Managing Waterways on Tasman – Marlborough Farms |
From booklet: This booklet provides information about how to manage waterways to improve water...More » |
A Guide to Managing Farm Dairy Effluent – Tasman/Marlborough |
From booklet: This booklet provides best management practices for the main systems currently o...More » |
Dairy Shed Effluent Treatment and Disposal Guidelines |
From Booklet: This guideline is to provide some assistance to the farming community about what...More » |
Primary Contacts:
Andrew Fenemor
Email Phone: 03 545 7710 More details» |
Institute Landcare Research |
Expertise ICM programme management; local liaison; resource management; hydrology and water resource management |
|
Barbara Stuart
Email More details» |
Institute NZ Landcare Trust |
Expertise Farmer liasion/facilitation, river monitoring, conservation |