Sadly, we are again seeing flooding at the Wetlands and Bullock Creek discoloured with sediment when the sediment ponds from the Alpha Series Development were breached last week.

While the rainfall was significant (88.6mm in 24 hours), our Bullock Creek neighbours will tell you that before the Alpha Series development, even in periods of serious flooding (1999), Bullock Creek did not break its banks nor were the waters discolored.

The Otago Regional Council attended the Wetlands during the downpour to witness the flooding and to take water samples. Representatives from the Wanaka Retirement Village also joined us during our visit.

FOBC will be continuing to pressure QLDC to invest in the critical stormwater infrastructure needed to protect Bullock Creek and Lake Wanaka from inundation and contamination.

You can help too!

In addition to supporting FOBC, don’t forget that you can help by spreading the word about the threats facing Bullock Creek and Lake Wanaka.

• Talk about the storm water management problem with your friends and family.

• If you connect with us through social media - like and share our posts. Facebook and Instagram

• Contact our QLDC Councillors and UC Community Board Members and let them know your concerns and lastly,

• submit your views to the various Projects and Consultations on the QLDC Let’s Talk website

The marking of stormwater drains with fish symbols in Wanaka was originally initiated by Touchstone, an organisation concerned to keep the waters of our lakes and streams free from pollution. Check out their website for further information.

Paul van Klink, wearing both his Friends of Bullock Creek and Fish and Game hats is keen to continue the Touchstone project in the Bullock Creek catchment. Together with help from Chris Arbuckle from Touchstone who had the metal fish & bird silhouettes manufactured, the Wanaka Community Workshop who helped Paul with a drill press and Wai Wanaka who have assisted with the production of an “Adopt a Drain” leaflet, Paul will be working his way downstream to engage Bullock Creek neighbours in the FOBC project and to raise awareness of the importance of keeping pollution out of Wanaka stormwater drains. Hopefully the permanent labels on the street drains will be a reminder to everyone that all the water that enters the stormwater drains in Wanaka ends up in either Bullock Creek , other creeks and then Lake Wanaka.....so it’s in everyone’s interest to keep drains free of pollutants as much as possible.

The FOBC Fish on Drains project kicked off on Wednesday evening 30 Aug around 5 pm in Stone St adjacent the Wetlands. It was great to meet and chat with our BC neighbours along the way. During September & October we will be continue our journey downstream to Tenby Streets, Redwood Lane and Sycamore Place.

The Pines Resort on Dungarvan St - a Bullock Creek Neighbour

We recently touched base with Lynley and Maurice Chave who are the managers of the Pines Resort in Dungarvan St. They have been managing the Pines and the Edgewater Club for over 30 years now. Talking with Lynley it was so exciting to hear how much she and Maurice love Bullock Creek and how they share that enthusiasm with their resort guests who visit Wanaka from every corner of the globe.

We will back to Lynley for some more BC stories when the winter tourism calms down and they have time for a cuppa and a chat. In the meantime, Lynley reminded us about a great video that was produced for the NZ Life & Leisure magazine in 2017 (before the FOBC formed). Filmed by Brian High, it’s really a beautiful reminder what FOBC is striving to protect for the future. To view the film - click here.

At the end of July, the Otago Catchment Community hosted a get together of the many and varied catchment groups from our region. Held on a chilly winter’s day in the Maniototo, it was a fantastic opportunity to meet the people working in this environmental space.

Nancy Latham and Andy Oxley attended from FOBC. Despite being one of the few catchment groups from an urban area, there was still plenty of learning and connections made. Attending the forum was a myriad of volunteer catchment groups and professional organisations: ORC, Otago Landcare Trust, Fish & Game, Beef & Lamb NZ and MPI. Attending with us from Wanaka, were the Wanaka Catchment Group and Wai Wanaka.

But we will confess that following a serious morning of information sharing, the afternoon curling lesson confirmed that Nancy & Andy should not try out for the next winter olympics!

Spring is knocking on the door! The Tui’s are calling.

Planting work at the Wetlands continues apace with Paul van Klink organising for the arrival of more native plants. And of course as the ground warms up, there will be a fair bit of weed action too! We’ve taken delivery of some good mulch, but it’s still a bit green/hot and we’ll have to wait until Autumn next year before we use it.

With the longer days Paul is likely to return to two sessions each Thursday - 10AM - Noon and 2 - 4PM. Keep your eyes on our noticeboard, facebook/instagram page or sign up for our Thursday group emails for updates.

If you’ve got a spare couple of hours on a Thursday and you’d like to help out, get in touch with either Paul (021 056 9146) or Andy (021 107 5520).

The marking of stormwater drains with a “Fish” in and around Wanaka was originally an initiative of Chris Arbuckle from Touchstone to heighten public awareness of where our “waste water” ends up! Since then Wai Wanaka has been working with various community groups around the Upper Clutha for their Adopt a Drain project. Our friends from Wai Wanaka have produced a neat brochure explaining the importance of stormwater drains being for rainwater only and will be attending with FOBC during our marking of stormwater drains.

As part of our Bullock Creek Neighbours project, our personal meet and greet will commence this week (30 Aug) in Stone St, immediately adjacent the wetlands and we’ll slowly be working our way downstream during the spring and summer months. We are proposing to pop-in to see our BC neighbours, early evening between 5 - 6pm. Please feel free to come out and see us putting a fish on your street drains and have a chat with us.

You may have noticed that we have not sent out our annual $20 subscription notice. This is because we are proposing to change how FOBC is structured. We will preserve our charitable status but will form a new trust which will be managed by appointed Trustees. As an incorporated society, on an annual basis we were required to hold a AGM and elect people to specific positions. To be a member of FOBC required the payment of an annual sub.

The sending out of notices, collecting membership subscriptions, and recording who had paid and who had not, required an onerous amount of administration time. Furthermore, only paid up members could vote at the annual AGM.

Under the proposed structure, we will encourage supporters of FOBC to make a tax deductible donation, as an alternative to an annual subscription.

We are hoping that the change in structure will not have a material impact on the monies kindly donated to FOBC to continue with the site restoration.

We are in the process of applying for a new trust structure. Once this has been completed, we will be required to hold a Special General Meeting to vote to wind up Friends of Bullock Creek Incorporated, and transfer all monies and assets to the Friends of Bullock Creek Trust.

We will be holding a Special General Meeting of all FOBC Inc., members on Saturday 11 November 4:30PM at the Bullock Creek Wetlands. Formal notification of the Special General Meeting will be circulated by email to all members and also advertised in the local papers. Mark the date in your calendar.

If you have any questions or concerns about this change in structure please contact Roger Gardiner, FOBC Secretary 021 117 7220

In case you missed it, here’s the link to the FOBC email to members detailing recent correspondence with QLDC.

FOBC and our Community Stakeholders continue to express our extreme disappointment with QLDC's lack of urgent and substantive commitment to protecting our fresh water bodies in the Roy's Bay catchment.

NEXT STEPS…

Our plan is to discuss QLDC's response at our next Friends of Bullock Creek committee meeting. We will also liaise with our Community Stakeholders, to work out what actions we can take going forward. It is proposed that our actions will be to get traction for local government investment in infrastructure and operational initiatives for freshwater protection and look forward to the continue support of our FOBC Members.

big thanks to our volunteers!

Incredibly, despite the miserable cold inversion days, our dedicated FOBC volunteers are continuing to plant up the wetlands. Paul van Klink has been amazed at the hardy souls who don their warmest gear and gardening gloves and head to the Wetlands on a Thursday afternoon. Thanks also to Brian Anderson for the recent use of his mini-digger.

During winter months volunteer sessions are held 2 - 4PM at the Bullock Creek Wetlands. If you’d like to get involved or have any questions, don’t hesitate to call Paul 021 0569 146.

WATER QUALITY Vs. HOUSING

Regardless of your views whether or not we need more housing in Wanaka - this month sees a real push by QLDC :

• to open new areas up for housing development: Spatial Plan 2024 Gen 2.0 - Call for urban growth sites: https://letstalk.qldc.govt.nz/spatial-plan-2024-gen-2

• and make district planning changes for the intensification of existing residential areas. Variation to Proposed District Plan - Urban Intensification

The question is: "Can this development be done in a way to ensure no further contamination of our precious Bullock Creek and Lake Wanaka?"

FOBC will be submitting on the QLDC Spatial Plan to ensure that our views regarding the importance of fit for purpose urban stormwater management are recorded. Submissions close on 16 July.

If you'd like to support our submission (or make your own) more details will be posted in this News Section of the FOBC website in the week 3 - 10 July. You can also make your own submission via the QLDC Lets Talk portal - click here.

Also coming down the line in mid July is a variation to the Proposed District Plan regarding Urban Intensification. Importantly many of the areas proposed for intensification are directly south of the headwaters of Bullock Creek and will impact the creek’s health if not managed well.

Further information

• Map showing areas in Wanaka affected - click here and go to Map 4

• Interesting news article from law firm Todd & Walker summarising some of the proposed changes