Our New Zealand beaver friend, William Huges-Games writes that there is a heated debate going on about a proposal to dam the Hurunui river to benefit farmers. Check out the story and video here.
Farmers and environmentalists are facing up to each other on a new battleground in Canterbury. Around 200 farmers want to take water from the Hurunui River to irrigate an area two-thirds the size of Lake Taupo.The project proposes the construction of a 75m high dam on the Hurunui River to create a 7km long lake and installing a weir on nearby Lake Sumner to store a 138 million cubic litres of water.Backers of the controversial irrigation scheme say if they get the go ahead, it’ll transform the drought-prone lands and be worth up to $2 billion to the economy.But while opponents say it is wholesale destruction, supporters say it is economic necessity.
You know how this story goes. It is the original battle of the dollar sign and the ampersand. Long ago the river near the tiny community of my parents home was in danger of becoming the next big drought-saving measure. The plan was to dam the Consumnes river and put hundreds of homes underwater to make a massive lake. The citizens organized and fought back, calling their organization (wait for it) “Not by a dam site!”
You must also know the kind of tool that would allow those farmers to hold the water, allow the fish to pass, allow the river to be “free”, allow the environmentalists to enjoy the river, and improve their wildlife and water quality? I thought you did.
We are having a great kerfuffle here in Hurunui/Canterbury (my district of South Island) about the construction of a couple of medium large concrete dams on the Hurunui River for agriculture. Farmers highly pro – environmentalists highly agin. I’ve been sending that very neat beaver cartoon you sent me to all and sundry – both supporters and detractors. Haven’t got a single reply – not even an insulting one. I thought I would at least stir something up. Never mind – early days yet. I’m attempting to get ahold of the people that designed the cartoon to suggest that they do another one on, for instance, beaver and salmon or beaver cleaning nutrients from the water. That first one was simply brilliant.
[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=wI5AjJd00cM]
You know the old saying about how “Great minds think”….
