Having re-evaluated all that we are currently trying to accomplish, we have settled on a list of items in our 2024/2025 Action Plan which will carry the Network forward into the next year or two.

Our Action Plan is a list of 56 separate but interrelated actions that are either actions that we have always been pursuing, or have recently started, or intend to commence during the next year to help us achieve the OHRN Strategic Plan.

The current Strategic Plan is based on four “pillars” – Health & mauri of the river, Advocacy on behalf of the river, Community Connection, and Governance and Leadership of the Network. Below is a brief outline of the items we intend to action under each of these pillars.

Health & mauri of the river

• Springs – Interpretation:  Having completed two years of studying the springs on Bunz and Bowis Streams, Halswell which are part of the Te Kuru Wetlands, we are working with CCC to place interpretation panels at an appropriate spring explaining the importance and origin of these springs.

• Springs – monitoring: Our investigation of one spring on Bunz Stream indicated that the level of nitrates in the rising groundwater was above the 95th percentile expected for water in the Cashmere Stream.  While CCC is testing on Cashmere Stream, we want to monitor the nitrates level in this particular spring to chart any changes over time.  Quarterly, a small team from OHRN are sampling this spring and that sample is tested by Hills Labs.  We will soon start showing the longitudinal results on our website.

• Sediment: Sediment is the river’s largest contaminant and brings other contaminants with it.  Reducing sediment is a vital objective but doing so will involve all the community – local government, landowners, farmers, developers and the community.  It will involve land use change and landscape-wide planting.  It will be a generational programme of change that will reduce sediment loadings.  Our current role is in encouraging the Christchurch City Council to progress the Port Hills Plan and to ensure that the end product is something that will achieve sediment reduction in the longer term.  We are also monitoring the operation and effectiveness of the Cashmere Valley retention ponds and dam in reducing the amount of sediment transported out of the valley during rain events.

• Sediment Mapping: Heavy metals within sediment are part of the reason for low invertebrate count in the river, a measure of its ecological health.  But what are the actual levels of heavy metals throughout the length of the river?  Where are the hotspots and what might be causing them?  One of our members is linking with University of Canterbury in mapping the heavy metals in the top 50mm of sediment throughout the length of the river.

• Climate Change Report: With funding from CCC, we have been carefully pulling together information about the possible effects of climate change on the catchment of the Ōpāwaho Heathcote River.  Once that report is complete, we will hold a public conversation about what it might be telling us about likely effects and options for the future.

• Biodiversity: Pest Plant Removal: With Better Off Funding from the Waihoro Spreydon-Cashmere-Heathcote Community Board, we are starting to investigate how we might remove or at least manage some of the invasive weed species in the riparian margins of the river.  This will be a delicate and difficult long-term project to get right, so it will be some time before effects are seen on the river margins.  It may also involve planting of native species as replacement for the pest plants.

• Biodiversity: Catchment Weeds Poster & Programme: In conjunction with removing weeds from the riparian margins, we also want to help improve community awareness of weed species, particularly those that might be in residents’ own properties. Harnessing the community to remove these weeds is important to reduce the spread of them into the difficult open spaces on our hills.  This project may well involve the use of a customised app to notify where weeds are and when they have been removed.

• Biodiversity: Predator control along the river: We want to investigate the possibility of creating traplines for rats and mice along the river.  This will involve the community, especially those living along the river, in servicing the traps and will take account of the need for adequate public safety.  It will also require adequate funding.

• Lower Ōpāwaho River Guidance Plan Implementation: The CCC Long-Term Plan has set aside funding for this so we want to work with the council staff and planners to help start the long-term process of improving co-ordination of work from Opawa Road bridge to the estuary with a focus on some key projects.
• Overall River Strategy: Preparing a vision for how the river and its flow plains might look in 100 years, taking into account climate change and likely rainfall patterns.  Such a vision statement could help guide the decision-making and prioritising within the CCC Long-Term Plan and District Plan. We could use the 2018 Jacksons Creek Catchment vision statement as an inspiration.

Advocacy on behalf of the river

This is the Network actively engaging with local government agencies and also the national government to advocate in the river’s best interests. It involves…

Advocacy for specific projects:

• Litter Barrier and Boom – working with CCC staff to reduce litter in the river
• Wheelie Bin Latches – trialling the use of latches to reduce litter from bins
• Riverside parking – reducing sediment and riverbank damage from parking on the river bank, especially on Ashgrove Terrace
• Dog Control in bird-sensitive areas
• Beckenham Service Centre – ensuring that the new building and its landscaping addresses the river
• Stormwater awareness – improving community awareness of stormwater’s impact on the river
• CCC Surface Water Improvement Plan – advocating for this idea of a plan to see the light of day and be funded

Advocacy through formal submission:

• Local government long-term and annual plans, by-laws, regulations
• National government legislation where this directly affects the river and/or its catchment

Communication of key messages:

• Public speaking opportunities
• Letters
• Facebook posts
• OHRN News Items & website
• Key messaging through direct contact – displays and stalls at public events

Community Connection about and with the river

Events: Organising and/or taking part in:

• Mother-Of-All-Clean-Ups – a once-a-year collection of rubbish from all Christchurch rivers
• Hosting guided river walks during the CCC Festival of Walking
• EstuaryFest
• Farmers’ Market stalls
• World Rivers Day and World Fish Migration Day celebrations

Interpretation and way-finding: Working with the CCC signs team to:

• Design and place signs that name the river and its tributaries
• Walking and cycling markers – in conjunction with cycleway construction
• Telling the river’s stories through interpretation panels and signage

River Group mahi: Assisting with community groups that work to improve biodiversity along the river and throughout its catchment:

• Creating new groups and investigating the feasibility of a flying squad for ad hoc work
• Directing supporting Community Groups by providing a forum for input into OHRN actions, and to increase their community connection
• Providing tools, equipment and apparel for community groups working in the catchment

Leadership & Governance of the Network

All the usual tasks that keep a voluntary organisation running well and functioning :

• Administration, finance & reporting functions: meetings, budgeting, report writing, succession planning, OHRN membership training, funding applications and reporting
• Strategic governance: Funding strategy, mana whenua relationship, governance assessments, policy writing and review
• Relationships: Maintaining and developing relationships with mana whenua, CCC, ECan, Community Waterways Partnership, universities, and commercial enterprises