Campaign finance reform
Without which bought-and-paid-for government swamps democracy
Climate camps and the world’s shortest year
And the prize for the most foolish first line goes to: “Climate change advocates will be buoyed by data which has emerged from the US today.” Admittedly, the New Zealand Herald is not alone in using the ludicrous phrase ‘climate change…
Action plan preparing Mahurangi for the transition
Saying no to the chairman was not part of the plan. But when he put the question ‘But don’t you consider that this provides the mandate?’, it couldn’t be dodged. This, was the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance. And no, it did not provide a mandate to impose a...
Energy and the dammed Mahurangi
Dam the Mahurangi River and generate electricity. Such a proposal would face fierce opposition. But what if the dam was already in place; built more than a century since. The dam, otherwise known as the Wilson cement works weir, is located almost…
Overreact now to Gulf invasion and war on a habitable climate
What we need is a decent nuclear accident, then they’ll vote Values. That was well before Chernobyl, in fact five years before Three Mile Island. And sadly, the self-appointed Values Party spokesman wasn’t being factious. Aside from the tragic state of mind that would...
Invitation to the launch of the draft plan
Draft Mahurangi Action Plan Launch Monday 31 May 6–8pm Venue Mahurangi River Winery, 162 Hamilton Road (off Sandspit Road) After many workshops and much hard work together drafting the Mahurangi Action Plan (a strategic plan for the catchment 2010–2030), we are very...
Anthropocene ensures Holocene has had its day
Geology was one of Ronald Locker’s abiding passions. In his chapter Laying the Foundations, Jade River : A History of the Mahurangi’s author succinctly explains the processes that gave rise to the Mahurangi—how this landscape of outstanding natural beauty…
Matrix can help save landscape and planet
Saving the planet was once a euphemism for environmental prissiness. Much better to look after numero uno, one’s family, the community or, at a pinch, the local environment. But that has changed dramatically due to the diminishing window of opportunity to mitigate,...
Time to swipe the black card
It is a $2 million-demonstration of the power of packaging. Fully 11% of the SuperGold Card travel budget has been used on trips to Waiheke Island, apparently helping put the scheme $12 million over budget. Although any discount and concession scheme would have been...
co2 can come before and after warming
It’s a perfectly reasonable question. If, following ice ages, a rise in carbon dioxide followed global warming, why is the scientific consensus that the current rise is causing global warming? The short answer is that increased levels of carbon dioxide can both cause, and…
Global alliance news is as good as it gets
It may not always seem like it. Nevertheless, the editorial policy of the Mahurangi Magazine is for it be good-news publication. But that is good-news, as opposed to head-in-the-sand news, when it comes to inconvenient truths. The successful inaugural conference of...
To uncrowd Eden, stop at nothing
Review More: Population, Nature and What Women Want, Robert Engelman Stop at two! Three decades ago it was acceptable to discuss zero population growth in polite circles. After all, it was unquestionable that the world’s population growth was unsustainable. ‘Stop at...
Mahurangi landscape and the matrix
The best is still left till last. But landscape was almost left off entirely, as a separate workshop topic—bumped by regional council enthusiasm to introduce a matrix method of determining which actions ticked, as it were, which boxes. The surprise move met determined...
Open-ground indigenous plants establishment trials
Report to the Sustainable Farming Fund Aotearoa leads the world in radiata pine forestry. It also leads the world in radiata pine forestry nursery practices. Consequently, it is surprising that indigenous nursery practices have failed to piggyback on the success of…
Mahurangi Action Plan draft working paper: Landscape section
The following excerpt is the Landscape section of the draft working paper titled Integration. Editor 4.0 Landscape As has been done with environmental issues addressed in earlier working papers, this section provides a discussion on the topic of landscape, the one...
Mahurangi soon to see dawn of plan
The best has been left till last: Landscape. Landscape is the Mahurangi’s greatest asset. Not only is it a harbourscape of outstanding natural beauty, Mahurangi is unique in having an emphatically rural landscape, in spite of being the first natural harbour north of...
Regatta director a hard man to follow
Regatta Brainstorming 3 March 2010 Venue Mahurangi West Hall Time 7.30–9pm Latest update He was always going to be a hard man to replace. But after 22 years as regatta director, Michael Gordon could be excused for not wishing to serve in the role in his seventieth...
Avoid ‘dredging’ with access code
Dredging, by definition, is a dirty business. Which is why the draft working paper addressing the issue uses the code access. While many will see this as inexcusable political correctness, it is actually entirely sound to define the objective, rather than just one...
Mahurangi Regatta master stroke
First published at Mahurangi Rowing The 2010 Master of the Mahurangi race took place at 11 am. The change to an 11 am time was designed to allow rowers to also compete in the sailing races in the afternoon. While this was possibly announced too late to be of...
Post regatta resolution: Book the bach
It is all too easy to forget. A year is a long time, and resolutions made in the wake of one Mahurangi Regatta can fade—buried by the mountain of minutiae that is the reality of all-too-busy lives. One such lapse was allowing the Bailey bach to be booked for other...
Getting down to Scotts Landing or across from the other side: Don’t pay the ferryman
Event date Saturday 30 January 2010 High tide 07:47 (1.30 m) then 20:03 (1.21 m) It’s thanks to two particular friends of the Mahurangi. A bus will be shuttling back and forth along Ridge Road, and volunteers and prize-giving and dance – goers will be ferried across...
Forecasts still fickle but Friday fingers crossed
Event date Saturday 30 January 2010 High tide 07:47 (1.30 m) then 20:03 (1.21 m) This afternoon, with some trepidation, the various marquees will go up. The vastly variable conditions that makes long-range weather forecasting interesting, offer no real respite for...
All sailing and shoreside events scuttled
Updated Friday 28 January 2011 3.17 pm The decision wouldn’t be made until shortly after at 6 am. On the morning of the Mahurangi Regatta, a ‘cancellation committee’ of three would phone each other and discuss the weather forecast just intoned by a government...
Dance in doubt but still too close to call
Event date Saturday 30 January 2010 High tide 07:47 (1.30 m) then 20:03 (1.21 m) Currently no rain is forecast. But because this will likely continue to change back and forth before Saturday evening, the Rodney Times has been given a ‘watch this space’ story. The...
Regatta dance prospects: First the bad news
Event date Saturday 30 January 2010 High tide 07:47 (1.30 m) then 20:03 (1.21 m) The bad news story had been prepared first. The consistently worsening forecasts had suggested that it was the most likely scenario that would need addressing: That the dance would be...
Thousand-patty dilemma: Stubbs to the rescue
Event date Saturday 30 January 2010 High tide 07:47 (1.30 m) then 20:03 (1.21 m) Stubbs Village Butchery is under new ownership. The new owners, Bill Brass and Richard Pennings, have just saved the bacon of the Mahurangi Regatta dance. Two years ago, the previous...
Regatta dance prospects: A washout possible
Event date Saturday 30 January 2010 High tide 07:47 (1.30 m) then 20:03 (1.21 m) Many love to malign meteorologists. The suicide of the father of British meteorology, whose name is immortalised for New Zealanders geographically with Port Fitzroy, was possibly assisted...
2010 Mahurangi Regatta programme
Event date Saturday 30 January 2010 High tide 07:47 (1.30 m) then 20:03 (1.21 m) Sailing events Mahurangi Cruising Club Shoreside events Friends of the Mahurangi Latest update Mahurangi Regatta Generally* held at Sullivans Bay *In the event of a strong easterly...
Media ineptitude and world awash with disinformation
Classical propaganda is instantly recognisable. It flutters to earth from an enemy aircraft or is plastered up in the form of clumsy government-printed posters in public places. But the art of the propagandist has become extraordinarily sophisticated, and civilisation...
Regatta at Sullivans always a picnic
Event date Saturday 30 January 2010 Venue Sullivan Bay, Mahurangi regional Park, Mahurangi West High tide 07:47 (1.30 m) then 20:03 (1.21 m) Shoreside events Friends of the Mahurangi Sailing events Mahurangi Cruising Club Philippa posses, in common with many of her...
Harmony prevailed visitors receiving every attention
In regattas past, Scott Homestead would sit locked and mostly unused. The kitchen was pressed into service, preparing salads for the evening’s venison burgers, but otherwise visitors were unable to to see inside. Last regatta, Paul Deacon held an…
Volunteers called for busman’s holiday
Bureaucracy-wise, the bar was set high for the 2004 regatta ball. As the head ranger said at the time: We wouldn’t even be having this conversation, if it wasn’t for the historic importance of Warkworth’s 150th celebrations. However, given Scott Homestead’s historic role as…
Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen accord
Appearances can be deceptive. Copenhagen 18 December 2009, might not have looked and sounded like a turning point in history. But time determines what constitutes a moment in history, not the preconceived expectations of conference critics.…
Copenhagen cue for catchment as climate action showcase
Climate action is set to become the only game in town. Which could leave the Mahurangi starved of funds for reducing its elevated sediment accumulation rate. But rather than compete with climate action projects, the Mahurangi is perfectly positioned to be a climate...
Marine farming the nasty way or the nice way
There are two ways to stop teredo. Build oyster farms from unpalatable material, or from palatable material impregnated with poisons. Biomarine, for its vast new Kaipara harbour farm, has chosen to eschew poisons such as chromium arsenates. Instead of…
Voting for and against, and with first past the post
It is a continual improvement advocate’s worst nightmare. It would be like lining up the 15-year-old family hack at Bathurst, without even checking the dipstick. Mixed member proportional is about to be compared with a yet-to-be-determined range of other systems, with...
Walks in, around and beyond Warkworth worth walking
They’re billed as Warkworth Walks Worth Doing, though only one is actually in or around Warkworth. There are seven, ranging from the relatively rigorous, to the summit of Tamahunga, to the trattoria-style Italian dinner at Herons Flight…
Changing Times highlights revival
There’s a rumour that it’s really a red wine appreciation society. To allay this misconception, of the Mahurangi Harbour Book Club, I have been asked to do something that I have never done before: Review a book! So I poured a glass of good red and set to work. Changing Times, at first glance is a historical record of…
Electing the mayor of Mahurangi
If the vote is split, the first regional mayor may all too easily be the abrasive John Banks. The risk of vote splitting could have been avoided, had local government embraced preferential voting—ludicrously, its implementation under the Local Electoral Act 2001 was...
Aotearoa has mixed-member proportional half right
Only half know what they are doing. That’s in general elections, where the turnout puts local government elections to shame—in spite of voters needing to travel no further than the mailbox. And not only do a mere 52% understand ‘which of the two votes…
Yes to shift a few tons of this earthly delight
The dream of dredging the Mahurangi River to restore its navigability fills some with hope, some with dread. The vast majority would welcome it, but only if it could be accomplished without further despoiling the already severely stressed benthic…
Bad language but boundary brilliant
The New Zealand Herald story will be very welcome news to friends of the Mahurangi. Particularly those overseas, whose evening television coverage would have struggled to report on the battle of the Pūhoi–Makarau Line, in the absence of actual blood on the floor at...
Rodney didn’t speak, Rodney roared
In spite of the rain and short notice, Ascension’s banquet hall was packed to the rafters. The choice of venue had many pondering his motives, and many a facetious inquiry was fielded as to whether Dr Lockwood Smith would be shouting the first drink. The pressure for...
Key calls for a Pūhoi–Makarau Line uprising
There is nothing sacrosanct about the existing northern boundary of Rodney district. It should possibly be changed. But definitely: not at this time; and never in such a way that it excludes Mahurangi–Matakana–Leigh from the region that it is functionally part of. The...
Notion to exclude Mahurangi uncalled-for
Preposterous—the word Mahurangi Action founder John Male impassionedly used. He was describing a proposal whereby 80 copies of the 416-page Jade River: A History of the Mahurangi be photocopied to nominally discharge the undertaking to publish given to its terminally...
New Zealand Labour Party minority view
Introduction The need to reform Auckland’s governance structures is obvious; the many problems that beleaguer the region are universally discussed and widely agreed. That in part was why the previous Labour Government established the Royal Commission on Auckland...
Auckland Regional Council media release: Rodney’s disaster
The government’s lack of vision and understanding of Auckland issues has failed the people of Rodney district, says Auckland regional councillor Christine Rose. The government has today indicated its intention to split the Rodney District at the Puhoi and Makarau...
High time to ramp up response
Blame it on that unabashed alarmist, Noah. For establishing the notion that humanity could be wilfully drowned and a fresh start would only be few months in an ark away. The sad fact is that not all the animals can be saved. Sure, the likes of the lions and…
Letter to Lockwood: Mahurangi must remain in region
Dr Hon Lockwood Smith Member of Parliament for Rodney and Speaker of the House Dear Dr Smith It is rumoured that the northern boundary of the region is to be moved southward, to the Waiwera River. As the long-serving member for Rodney, you are arguably best placed to...
Need to respond
Letter It would be bad news indeed for the Mahurangi and it’s action plan if Mahurangi became part of the cash-strapped Kaipara District. I think we need to respond to Mike Lee’s call and make submissions urgently. Editor’s note This being the second...
No room for global warming elephant in the harbour
Work is proceeding apace on the first-ever collaborative Mahurangi plan. The decision to embrace the production of a holistic plan did not come quickly or easy for the Auckland Regional Council. Having discovered, somewhat inadvertently, that the harbour was in dire...
Management plan review time for re-reading wedding bans
Weddings weren’t expected to be the subject of a Mahurangi Action Plan workshop. Nor did the Mahurangi Magazine expect to be posting wedding banns anytime soon. Nevertheless, the prospect of reversing the rule that effectively disallows the likes…
Mahurangi Action Plan draft working paper: Issues and scoping
Introduction – executive summary This report follows the meeting of the Mahurangi Action Plan planning workshop on 10 August 2009. It scopes the issues, provides an outline for the vision statement and discusses the information that may be needed for the technical...
Draft master plan and the mother of master plans
New regional governance arrangements will likely see Watercare Services responsible for Mahurangi sewerage. Understandably, Rodney District Council’s infrastructure planners are keen to consolidate their work prior to when, in all probability, they will report to new...
First workshop focuses on the how and the who
The first was always going to be the most fraught. This in spite of the objective of the workshops being very simple: To put the plan in the Mahurangi Action Plan, collaboratively. The plan itself is straightforward, if the premise is accepted that it should...
Mahurangi Action’s last glossy gasp
It’s always a challenge, to make a submission stand out. Particularly when committee members are facing the last batch of submitters for the week, on the Auckland governance legislation. Late of a Friday afternoon, they could be excused if their minds were beginning...
Putting the plan in the Mahurangi Action Plan: Planting and planning
Planting 17 and 18 July 1pm–3pm, food and arts activities 3pm–4pm Location 17 Edwards Road, via Hepburn Creek Road Planning 20 July 5.30pm for 6pm–8pm Venue Old Masonic Hall, Baxter Street, Warkworth When the Mahurangi Action Plan was initiated, in 2004, it wasn’t so...
Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill Submission 930
As lodged today General Mahurangi Action embraces this historic opportunity to devise better governance arrangements for the Auckland region. The organisation was formed in 1974, for the enjoyment and protection of the Mahurangi catchment; in 1977 it revived the...
Vote yes and no
Auckland governance legislation select committee submissions closed Friday 26 June By this time next year, there will be a Mahurangi plan. Mahurangi Action founding chairman John Male made the first bid for a Mahurangi plan in 1975, pitched at the old Rodney County...
Dr David Bergin, Forester of the Year
Unintentionally, it had bordered on false advertising. To offer to prospective planters the prospect of discussing their interest in indigenous plants with one of Aotearoa’s most interesting tree scientists, Dr David Bergin. However, the volunteer…
Mahurangi Regatta anniversary weekend 2060
t presumably was not the sentiment Rod Oram had intended to invoke in his audience:
“This is all quite depressing!” Oram had begun his Urban Design and Auckland Governance talk by quoting an undisclosed inside source claiming…
Science to underpin a revolution measuring success
Six thousand, two hundred and forty trees measured. To be precise, some were not so much measured, as their death or absence noted. Even so, research technician Michael Bergin took more than 18 000 measurements, the cack-handed editor’s…
By appointment to the prime minister – Our best brain
Mismatch: Why our world no longer fits our bodiesReview first published as Our Best Body in the Mahurangi Magazine, January 2007 Re-published to celebrate the appointment of Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, founding director of the Liggins Institute, as the inaugural...
Very, very well-deserved re-launch luck
Event Saturday 16 May 2009, 10.30am onward Wharf Street, Warkworth The fine forecast for Saturday is staggering good luck. Given the months of fine weather Warkworth enjoyed this summer, contrasting with the recent weeks of early winter cold and rain. But this luck...
Mahurangi West Hall meeting to get behind the seawall
Craig Davis is a rare breed of coastal engineer. One that is passionate about resisting the human instinct to armour the coastline with manmade structures. But if a seawall is needed, Mr Davis can be relied upon to design one that does not offend nature. Seawalls are...
Official invitation to the Jane Gifford Re-Launch and Homecoming Celebration
Event Saturday 16 May 2009, 11am onward Wharf Street, Warkworth The Jane Gifford Restoration Trust cordially invites everybody to the re-launch and homecoming celebration for the 101-year-old scow Jane Gifford. The trust plans a huge welcome-home celebration,...
Jane Gifford re-launch with a little help from our friends
Event 11am to 2pm Wharf Street, Warkworth ‘We’re having the re-launching and homecoming celebrations for the Jane Gifford a fortnight on Saturday there.’ ‘Hang on Hugh, I’ll just pull over.’ ‘We’re wondering if the Friends would be prepared to mobilise its Mahurangi...
Finding Fred Anderson’s punt and sailing with the scow pilot
Must have been in the late 1960s I think. Lindsay and I found the punt ashore in Lagoon Bay. We took it back to Rodmersham where Lindsay’s father, Gladwyn Wynyard, recognised it as one that Fred Anderson had built for himself years before. He rang Mrs Anderson who...
Thirty into 1.4 million equals one Tamahunga local board
It was an unimaginable scenario in 2007, when the Labour-led government determined it was time to fix Auckland. That in 2009, a National-led government, and Act Party minister of local government, would be remedying royal commission…
Crude devices and the r-word
Worldwide, local government reform is notoriously unpopular. It invariably creates resentments that can linger for decades, and fails to deliver on promised cost savings. Consequently, experts such as Brian Dollery advocate amalgamating service delivery, leaving the...
From seventeen hundred to fifty words
The finishing touch to Colin Hawken’s fine new fence in front of the Mahurangi West Hall came in the form of a handsome new sign. Mahurangi West local Murray Davey, of Signpost, donating this and many others since the hall restoration began, provided the sign, and...
Name needed for new plan and for Rodney
The Royal Commission on Auckland Governance recommendations are essentially excellent news for the Mahurangi. If Thursday’s Rodney Times had been remotely on the money, the Mahurangi could have kissed goodbye to the care that is being lavished on the catchment....
Twin Streams floated their punt
Project Twin Streams features in the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance recommendations, and that is a promising sign for the Mahurangi. The 788-page report, which is eminently readable, is peppered with examples that…
Does ‘Mahurangi Network’, ‘Mahurangi Plan’ float your punt?
Mahurangi Breakfast Club Fridays 7.30–8.30am Ducks Crossing Café If Mahurangi Network, Mahurangi Plan, works for you, read no further. If it really floats your Mahurangi punt, e-mail your support, but you might want to hold off, at least until seeing the three options...
Naming rites
Letter Come on guys, let’s not get too carried away here. With respect, ‘initiative strategy’ sounds like Wellington-speak for ‘thinking ahead’. Try Mahurangi Protection Plan. Unequivocal, all embracing and durable. Editor’s note Mark allows that protection...
Brunel’s biggest groupie
Letter I believe I may be one of Mr I K Brunel’s biggest groupies. I’ve done them all, the railway, the ship, the office, the grave. He’s the greatest of the greats. I happen to travel Brunel’s line to Cardiff once a week for work and we’ve just had a holiday in...
No glaring acronyms here
Letter Firstly, you must be congratulated on the excellent online Mahurangi Magazine—it continues to be of interest and relevance. Thank you for allowing us to share it; we love it. You asked for comment on the title Mahurangi Initiative Strategy. Here is my small...
‘We’ name you: Mahurangi Initiative Strategy
Mahurangi Breakfast Club Fridays 7.30–8.30am Ducks Crossing Café The Auckland Regional Council has signalled its support for the collaborative development of a strategic planfor the Mahurangi. Although the regional council envisages that the plan will be entirely...
Forum flies through first big test
Sewage brings out the worst in people, and the worst people out. Although that is deliberately trite, sewerage proposals are legendary for eliciting the ‘not in my backyard’ response. It was easy in 1974. The Warkworth town council imposed a flawed scheme…
The strength of hope-based networks
Letter Thanks for the opportunity to attend the Mahurangi Initiative forum. It was a great gathering, very interesting and I echo Marcus Shipton’s comments—a great group of people all positively engaged in the important subjects at hand affecting our beautiful...
From the ridiculous to the sublime
So much progress is being achieved towards sustainability. Beginning with the international stage, just over a year ago when it dawned that Barack Obama was on the road to making Earth-repairing history, the editor was determined to fully…
Hoping for a soft recovery for harbour
Is the river getting cleaner? Several times this week I’ve seen small shoals of baby squid, near to where the watering wharf might go. I’ve never seen them before in the river. Do other people normally see them but I have missed them, or is this…
A long way in thirty-five years
A water right application in 1974 served as the rallying call. It precipitated the formation of Friends of the Mahurangi, on 17 December that year. And that its inaugural meeting was held barely a week before Christmas gives a fair indication as to how het up the...
Sustainable energy without the hot air
Bill Gates puts it as well as anyone: “If someone wants an overall view of how energy gets used, where it comes from, and the challenges in switching to new sources, this is the book to read.” Sustainable Energy: Without the Hot Air was written by physicist…
A network for Mahurangi restoration and enjoyment
Four years to the day. When folk meet for the first time as the ‘Mahurangi Initiative Forum’, on 23 February 2009, it will be precisely four years since the Wenderholm meeting that was held to discuss the formation of a Mahurangi catchment trust. At first glance…
2010 to be the thousand-burger regatta
Some didn’t get to sample the 2009 Monster Mahuburger. One didn’t deserve to, given he under-ordered. A few even missed out on the hundred that went out Bambi-free—unforgivably, these were also free-range egg –free. For the six hundred who got one—or the sailor who...
2009 Mahurangi Regatta programme
Event date 24 January 2009 High tide 06:48 (0.83 m) then 18:53 (0.72 m) Shoreside events Friends of the Mahurangi Sailing events Mahurangi Cruising Club Mahurangi Regatta Generally* held at Sullivans Bay *In the event of a strong easterly forecast, at Scotts Landing...
Entertaining consequences arising from the lack of a dedicated gatekeeper
The cushiest job going at the Mahurangi Regatta is unquestionably that of gatekeeper at Scotts Landing. It comes complete with: Kiwiana bach accommodation personal parking space Bastion Point –style regatta vantage Curiously, the position has gone wanting year after...
Likely look of a Mahurangi unplanned
Doing nothing is always an option. And while doing nothing has already been rejected in favour of collaboratively developing a long-term plan, it is important record where the Mahurangi is otherwise currently headed. Three conspicuous changes have occurred to the...
Regatta reminder regarding boat launching at Sullivans
Launching of small boats participating in regatta 9–11 am Retrieval 3.30–4.30 pm Shortly after the 2009 regatta format was published, park ranger Matthew Williams e-mailed asking that the small boat launching times at Sullivans Bay be included. The editor is always...
Star of Sydney–Hobart ’66 here for Mahurangi’s red-letter day
Two recent days could be termed red-letter days, in respect to the Mahurangi Regatta. The first was when marine artist Paul Deacon emailed regarding his donation of two works, to be auctioned at the prize-giving and dance. The next was when the owner of one of the...
Mahurangi Regatta and the revival of a tradition
Frustratingly, the first is not recorded. The first possibly dates from the establishment of Gordon Browne’s spar station in the harbour, in 1832. More probably, Mahurangi’s first occurred when hms Buffalo called in 1834—spoiling…
After-match looked dicey but Deacon saves dance
For a while there, the vendors had inveigled their way in. Invariably, there is somebody looking to cash in on the event, but it was the strongly-held view of the generation that revived the Mahurangi Regatta that it should be a good old-fashioned…
Old school fence underlined the scale of sediment generation
Colin Hawken was sticking to his guns. Unless the ground was cut down, he insisted, the new fence he was about to erect would perch unsteadily on the edge of the bank. The bank had been formed, in the 100-odd years since the Mahurangi Heads West schoolyard was fenced,...
Well-spotted that big riverboat wheel
Master mariner Melvyn Bowen warmed up his audience with a quiz: ”Where am I?” he asked of the dozen or so who turned out on Friday evening to hear from the commercial sail aficionado. The first image of the presentation was of Melvyn stood…
Time to pay for that key advice
Key advice leading to the open-ground project came from a person with no interest in open-ground methods whatsoever. It began with a silver-bullet mission. Could harakeke, produced in bulk and planted at every opportunity, provide a nurse…
Is planning Rodney sprawling Rodney?
Planning Rodney looks like a plan. Much of the hydrological catchment is shown in a Kaipara–Mahurangi green buffer—the largest of three that would stretch from coast to coast. North of this green buffer is the northeastern mixed activity area, in a band that…
Sex politics and spaceflight at brainstorming breakfast
The ancient enjoinder—that guests should not discuss sex, politics or religion—should possibly be updated. I fear I have offended on more than one occasion by suggesting that spaceflight, henceforth, should be unmanned. Be that as it may…
Mahurangi Action Plan discussion beyond 2009
As you may be aware, we recently held a community workshop on the future of the Mahurangi Action Plan. We had a great turnout, with lots of engaged, lively discussion. The focus of that evening was on what the next phase of Mahurangi Action Plan might look like,...
Commercial sail – the way it could be
After thousands of years powered by sail, commercial navigation switched over completely to fossil fuels. Since then, the revival of commercial sail has proved to be a curiously elusive goal. But the same reason electric cars are making a stampeding…
Open-ground indigenous plants one-pager
Kim Morresey suggested a one-pager might be useful. Having attended the open-ground open day in Taupō, Ms Morresey, project leader of the Mahurangi Action Plan, was acutely aware that the concept of raising plants other than in containers…