Hi there!
My name is Jo Harrison, I am the Environmental Programmes Coordinator at North Shore City Council, Auckland, New Zealand. This year, we want to run a community engagement project to help protect and enhance our large network of urban streams. The focus is to change the behaviour of targeted groups of residents whose properties border a stream or whose properties have a stream running through them, so that they restore the riparian environment on their land. The specific behaviours we wish to target are the removal and sustained control of weeds, along with the planting and maintenance of suitable native species. We are looking for information about any other programmes out there that have been designed to encourage private, residential land owners to restore their land to a natural state (preferably stream restoration initiatives, but restoration of bush remnants, forests, wetland, etc., also welcome). We would like to know if any research has been carried out into the barriers to weed removal, sustained weed control and native planting and maintenance. Also, if any research has been carried out on the benefits of a 'natural' garden (removing & controlling weeds and planting & maintaining natives). Finally, we would be keen to hear about any tools that have been used (successfully or otherwise!) to encourage/persuade residents to undertake stream restoration on their properties. So, if you have any information you would like to share, please could you post it to the listserv by the end of January or early February sothat it may help to guide us in preparation for our focus groups and telephone surveys and then in the design of our pilot. We have found lots of projects aimed at changing behaviours in terms of water conservation, but very little in terms of riparian restoration. If you have any ideas about who else we could approach for useful information, we'd love to hear your suggestions. Obviously, we will be more than happy to share what we learn from conducting this project.
Thanks,
Jo
Jo Harrison
Environmental Programmes Coordinator
Sustainable Environment Team
North Shore City Council
521 Lake Road
Private Bag 93500
Takapuna North Shore City
Ph. 486 8600 ext 7299
Mobile. 027 448 8933
Fax. 486 8511
email. [email protected]
www.northshorecity.govt.nz
www.waicare.org.nz
Seeking Information on Programmes to Encourage Private Landowners to Restore and Maintain Riparian Environments
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You can also try Cows and Fish: http://www.cowsandfish.org/ aka The Alberta Riparian Habitat Management Society.
Arnica Rowan, B.Com., M.A., C.C.E.P.
Instructor,
Lakeland College
5707-47 Avenue, West,
Vermilion, Alberta T9X 1K5 Canada
Toll free: 1.800.661.6490 ex 8555
Direct: 780.853.8555
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.lakelandc.ab.ca
Biodiesel Project: www.sunfuel.ca
Hi Jo,
I am a graduate student at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, NB, Canada. I am doing research into how landowners' values and perceptions translate into private land management of riparian properties in a rural watershed here in NB. I collected my data through a survey. Maybe my research can be of some help to you. The only other study that I found in my literature searches that addresses these riparian issues is by Daniel Dutcher (2000).
Please contact me at [email protected] if you would like to discuss.
Stephanie
Hi Jo,
There are a number of programs in Victoria, Aust aimed at encouraging/supporting landholders to undertake riparian restoration works on waterways that border or run through their property. Those that I have been involved with have been mostly in rural areas but the approaches could apply in any setting. Also, the approaches that I'm aware of use financial incentives (coupled with education and information provision) which is always a fairly effective form of encouragement, but which may or may not be an option available to you! Simple grants programs which subsidise the cost of materials (eg. herbicide, seedlings, fencing etc) are the most common. More recently a market-based approach - "River Tender" has been trialled whereby the existing natural values of the stream and the likely value of the outcome of proposed restoration works are given numerical values and weighed up against the $ bid that landholders submit to do the proposed works. This is more flexible in some ways and can appeal to a different range of landholders Feel free to contact me directly for further info if relevant.
Jess
Jo
The following web links may be of assistance to you and well worth checking out. http://www.healthywaterways.org/ http://www.greeningaustralia.org.au/GA/QLD/OnGroundAction/our+projects/l andforwildlife/
Healthy Waterways is an exciting program providing technical expertise, common sense solutions and strong community engagement. Also suggest viewing pages on water sensitive urban design. Land For Wildlife is another exciting program that focuses on empowering individuals to take positive action for the environment.
Regards with a smile
John Carleton
Principal Technical Officer
Indigenous Environmental Health
Infrastructure Unit
Department of Local Government,
Planning, Sport and Recreation
Floor 9 111 George Street
PO Box 15031
City East Q 4002
t 07 3225 2348
f 07 3225 8685
[email protected]