May 15, 2013

Report sparks journey into natural environment

Horizons Regional Council is encouraging residents to get out and explore the world around them as it releases its State of Environment report this Saturday 18 May.

Produced every 5-7 years, the report provides a snapshot of natural resources in Manawatu-Wanganui Region and the pressures these resources face, with a focus on Horizons’ role in monitoring and management.

Horizons chief executive Michael McCartney says Horizons’ aim was to produce a document that not only summarised the state of the regional environment but also one that the community could relate to.

This approach has been carried over into the report’s launch which includes the opening of an informative trail between Te Manawa and the Manawatu River made up of graphics on the ground and the opportunity for people to contribute to a series of sculptures made from junk and litter.

“We’ll be launching the report at Te Manawa this Saturday from 10am and are encouraging people to bring along a piece of clean junk or rubbish they’ve collected from their local park, school, stream or environment to contribute to the sculptures,” Mr McCartney says.

“Local artists Junk and Disorderly will be working with the public to create these sculptures in the foyer throughout the day, our science manager will be giving a presentation at 11am and we’ll have copies of the River Trail map and full report available for people to get out and explore the world around them.”

The trail, which starts at Te Manawa and winds its way through the Esplanade before finishing at the Fitzherbert Bridge, will be in place for the next few weeks and highlights a number of interesting facts about the Region’s land, air and water resources.

A couple of the more interesting facts included are that water use for town supply, agriculture and industry has more than doubled in the past 16 years and 75 per cent of the Region’s land area is classified as hill country.

Mr McCartney says the trail provides an opportunity for people to engage with the Region’s natural resources in a way that goes beyond words on a page and helps to make some of the Council’s more complex monitoring data accessible to a general audience.

“If you’re not a scientist or scientifically-minded, some of the monitoring data we collect can be a bit daunting. We wanted to find a way to make this information relevant to the general public and the trail is one way of doing this.

“We’ve also created a trail map which acts as a bit of a summary for the full report and includes a challenge which people can complete along the way,” he says.

Both the trail map and full State of Environment report will be available online via Horizons website www.horizons.govt.nz and Te Manawa from Saturday, with further copies available from Horizons’ office in Victoria Avenue.

Horizons staff are also available to speak to school or community groups who would like more information and these groups are encouraged to get in touch via toll free number 0508 800 800 to arrange a presentation.

ENDS

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