Farmer fined $34,000 for breaching RMA

A North Canterbury farmer has been fined $34,000 after illegally clearing riverbed land in the Waiau River.

Jan Scott Rutherford cleared about 70 hectares of riverbed, which despite being on his property title, isn’t allowed under the Resource Management Act (RMA).

Mr Rutherford pleaded guilty to six charges related to the offending and was sentenced on August 15, with the sentencing notes released yesterday, August 23.

Environment Canterbury acting chief executive Stefanie Rixecker said, “In this case, the offender knew we considered the area riverbed and therefore subject to the responsibilities and restrictions imposed by the Resource Management Act. However, Mr Rutherford, for his own commercial gain, did the work without any further discussion with us.”

“This sentencing should serve as a warning to anyone doing works alongside the margins of a braided river to call us so we can provide advice on what you can and can’t do in order to protect these rivers and their natural character,” she said.

“Mr Rutherford’s actions affected the natural character of the riverbed which is unacceptable, and he needed to be held accountable.”

Judge Hassan, in his sentencing notes, states: It is unacceptable to intrude into and damage the values associated with a riverbed…the environment suffers and the community loses something precious when the intrusion that you undertook in a riverbed occurs (in your case, for commercial gain), even when responsible remediation is undertaken.

An enforcement order has also been issued to ensure the land is remediated to help the river go back to where it naturally would flow, with the works to be paid for by Mr Rutherford and completed by 31 July 2020. Mr Rutherford estimated the costs associated with that order would be $130,000.

Rixecker said, "We will not hesitate to take action when someone knowingly interferes with our braided rivers."

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