Council Monthly Catch ups:

Let's connect, share an idea, talk about issues and work on solutions as a team. 

Followed by networking. 

To join email rachael.armstrong@hbrc.govt.nz

 

 

Essentials of Engagement

Date: Thursday 3 October 2024

Location:

ORC Stafford Street

70 Stafford Street

Dunedin

Time: 9am-4pm

Breaks times 10.40am (20mins), 12.30pm (30mins), 2.30pm (15mins).

Cost: $500 plus GST. Council rate – $450 plus GST

Presenter: Chris Meme

Content

Introduction

The role of the engagement practitioner

Core Values Code of Ethics Contemporary Engagement

• Engagement definition
• Community engagement
• Uses of engagement
• Benefits of community and stakeholder engagement

Five Essential Elements of Engagement Practice ('Design Platform')

• Understand context
• Scope the project
• Understand people
• Set purpose of the engagement
• Shape influence

Quality assurance standards

Who should do this course?

Engagement Essentials has been designed for those who will be responsible for:

• those wishing to obtain the Certificate in Engagement
• experienced practitioners who are looking for a refresher
• those considering a career, or career change, in community engagement
• professionals, such as planners and engineers in related fields.

Benefits

• Validate your knowledge of sector best practice
• Clarify how the core models should work in practice
• Ask questions from IAP2’s experienced trainers
• Form a professional network

Engagement Essentials Training | IAP2 Australasia

This course is the pre-requisite for the IAP2 Australasia Certificate in Engagement. Engagement Essentials the perfect starting point for anyone involved in community and stakeholder engagement, at any level or function.

Participants will receive a certificate and gain 7 CPD hours upon completion.

 

2021 Canterbury Flood Recovery Field Trip *** CANCELLED***

Host: Environment Canterbury.

Overview

A two-day field trip to visit various sites damaged by the May 2021 Canterbury Floods, 3 years on from the event. The focus is to show the practical and fit-for-purpose methods used to repair around 350 damaged sites and is applicable to field staff and river engineers. Sites chosen to visit will include.

• Large scour bays repaired with a combination of vegetation and engineered structures,
• Innovative trials of different anchoring methods for anchored tree protection,
• Inclusion of native planting within scour zones,
• Heyman fences used in space limited areas,
• Stop bank repairs including retreat where appropriate,
• Rock groynes, rock drop structures and rock revetments

You will visit areas where some partial retreat has been possible to make more room for rivers. With repeated floods in the winters of 2022 and 2023, some of the repair methods were shown to not work and different solutions have now been implemented. You will learn the methods used to communicate and manage such a large number of repairs.

Date:

Field trip. Wednesday 16 – Thursday 17 October 2024

Online Post Field Trip Follow up. 

Location: Ashburton, Canterbury

$1300.00 plus GST.

The cost of the field trip is inclusive of accommodation in Ashburton, lunch and dinner on day one and breakfast and lunch on day two. Refreshments will be at a personal expense.

Spaces limited. To register email Rachael.Armstrong@hbrc.govt.nz

Manatiaki Kōawa | The New Zealand Rivers Group invites you to join us for our 2024 conference from 6 - 8 November, Ahuriri | Napier

​The theme for this year is Ka Mua, Ka Muri | walking backwards into the future. Over two and half days we want attendees to reflect on the past and consider how we best navigate an increasingly uncertain future.  We will get out alongside the awa to learn from tangata whenua and others about the past before moving inside to consider kōrero on the future. This year we also want to hear more stories, thoughts, experiences, and learnings from attendees in a longer open session and a series of ‘lightning’ talks to accompany posters.

We look forward to you joining us for what is sure to be a thought provoking few days.

Rivers Group Conference 2024 | Ka mua, ka muri Walking backwards into the future (riversconference2024.co.nz)

Poplars and Willows as Bioengineering Tools

The New Zealand Poplar & Willow Research Trust is offering national training 2-day workshops for new and experienced practitioners:

When: Tuesday 3 December – Wednesday 4 December

Where: Christchurch,

Cost: $750.00 - Members will receive a $250.00 discount.

Presenter, Ian McIvor

To register email Rachael Armstrong - Rachael.Armstrong@hbrc.govt.nz

Workshop Programme

• Using poplar and willow in bioengineering
• Research supporting the bioengineer
• Role of nurseries to support River Groups
• River engineering in the region
• Tools and resources for the practitioner
• Field visit to river sites
• Canterbury workshop: visit easily accessible sites along the Waimakariri and Ashley rivers.

Level One Asset Management Course

This course provides a contextual overview of the core elements of Asset Management (AM). Using case studies across different industries we will explore the benefits of Asset Management, required practices, lifecycle management, risk management and how to move forward on the AM journey. At the conclusion of this introductory course, participants will have a clear understanding of the key elements of AM and how to compile an asset management plan that aligns with organisational outcomes.

Syllabus

• Introductions and Course Overview
• Asset Management Overview
• Asset Management – The Organisational Context
• What is the State of my Assets?
• Valuing Assets and Understanding lifecycle implications
• Levels of Service – Do my assets deliver what is needed?
• Risk Management
• Lifecycle Management
• The Asset Management Plan
• Continuous Improvement
• Managing the AM Journey
• Summary

Catherine Bayly - Bio

Catherine is an experienced Infrastructure and Asset Manager. She has worked with and for local government organisations for over 20 years in NZ, Australia and the UK. Example work includes physical delivery of capital projects up to $300m, management of city assets, auditing AM competency of international water and river management schemes and most recently the design and completion of a national asset management system for the NZ Water Industry. Cath has co-developed competency based asset management courses in Australia which have been delivered to large scale asset owners including BHP Billiton, the defence force and the water industry. Cath has competencies in all elements of asset management and is particularly passionate about continuous improvement to efficiently deliver community services

When

Wednesday 11 December 2024

Where

Wellington

Time

9.00 am to 5.00 pm

Cost

$900.00 plus GST.

Council rate – $700.00 plus GST

Where to register

Email Rachael Armstrong - Rachael.Armstrong@hbrc.govt.nz

A one-day workshop on practical examples of river management practices, and the context in which options are considered. Participants to bring case studies of recent works or current sites where works are proposed.  The workshop will be discussion based, with a short overview of the wider context of river management.

Who would benefit?

Local authority engineers and asset managers, consultants and contractors actively involved in river management, or who have a specific interest in and experience of rivers and their management.

When

Wednesday 29 January 2025 TBC

Where

Wellington

Time

One day (9 am to 5 pm)

Cost

$500.00 plus GST.

Council rate – $400.00 plus GST

Where to register

Email Rachael Armstrong - Rachael.Armstrong@hbrc.govt.nz

Key themes

River management options: relating to river type and reach character.

Site context and pre-flood conditions: of flood history, channel changes and sediment transport activity.

Option selection: from potential bank protection and channel management measures.

Relating works to site: dimensioning structural bank works, scoping channel measures and margin vegetation management.

Learning from mistakes: all river management measures are temporary, thus monitoring and observation skills to learn from the river is essential.

Outcomes

A better understanding of river dynamics and the requirements of river engineering, and of different practices used on different types of rivers and around the country.

Presenter Gary Williams, Water & Soil Engineer, FEngNZ

Key Learning Objectives/Outcomes

Familiarity with key principles in fluvial geomorphology and their application to various river management situations (e.g., catchment (and regional) planning, sediment flux issues, and relation to flood hazards).

When

Monday 20 October - Tuesday 21 October 2025 TBC

Where

Wellington and Waikanae

Time

Two full days (8am-5pm)

Exact times to be confirmed

Cost

$950.00 plus GST for 2-day course. Council rate – $800.00 plus GST

Where to register

Email Rachael Armstrong - Rachael.Armstrong@hbrc.govt.nz

Key themes

Management issues for which geomorphic insight is fundamental:

• Work with the river (nature-based solutions) – respect diversity, work with process
• Determine what is realistically achievable
• Be proactive, precautionary, pre-emptive – tackle threatening processes
• Risk management
• Integrated Catchment Management
• Active and passive practices (including the do-nothing option) – hard versus soft engineering practices … Role of maintenance (weed management)
• Flood management/protection versus ‘living with a living river’
• Managing river erosion
• Using sediment budgets to manage sedimentation issues (including sand/gravel extraction)

Spatial Dimensions of geomorphologically-informed river management

Catchment

• Fundamental geomorphic unit
• Longitudinal profile – source, transfer accumulation zones
• Network relationships (tributary-trunk stream pattern, flux)
• Connectivity relationships

Channel planform: Braided, wandering gravel-bed, active meandering passive meandering, discontinuous watercourse (wetland/swamp)

Channel geometry

• Downstream and at-a-station hydraulic geometry
• Size and shape

Geomorphic units

• Erosional and depositional forms (and process relations)
• Channel (instream) and floodplain
• Assemblages – and approach to analysis of morphodynamics, condition, recovery (Fryirs & Brierley, 2021)

Bed material size

• Bedrock, Boulder/cobble, gravel-bed, sand-bed, fine-grained
• Bedload, mixed load, suspended load

Temporal dimensions of geomorphologically-informed river management

Timescale: Geologic, geomorphic, engineering

Magnitude-frequency relations

Equilibrium versus non-linear relations

Legacy effect (landscape memory)

Processes of geomorphic river adjustment

• Balance of impelling and resisting forces
• Stream power, shear stress
• Resistance elements – role of riparian vegetation, wood, ecosystem engineers
• Entrainment, transport, deposition (Hjulstrom curve)
• Sediment transport – Bedload, suspended load, solution load
• Aggradation/degradation regime – Lane Balance

Evolutionary trajectory of rivers (and recovery potential)

• Relating character and behaviour (capacity for adjustment/range of variability) to evolutionary trajectory
• Scoping (modelling) prospective river futures to determine what is realistically achievable in management

Geomorphology and river health (condition)

What do we measure where, how and why?

What do we measure against?

Geomorphic relations to Māori conceptualisations of rivers

A living river ethos, mauri, mana, ora

How geomorphology can support river management (indicative only – set up follow up specialist courses)

Scoping river futures - Proactive and precautionary approaches to Visioning & Catchment Planning

Concern for treatment response

Geoethical considerations – concerns for social and environmental justice

• Risk management
• Integrated Catchment Management
• Active and passive practices (including the do-nothing option) – hard versus soft engineering practices … Role of maintenance (weed management)
• Flood management/protection versus ‘living with a living river’
• Managing river erosion
• Using sediment budgets to manage sedimentation issues (including sand/gravel extraction)

Presenters: Ian Fuller, Gary Brierley, Jon Tunnicliffe

Poplars and Willows as Bioengineering Tools

The New Zealand Poplar & Willow Research Trust is offering national training 2-day workshops for new and experienced practitioners:

When: Tuesday 11 February - Wednesday 12 February 2025

Where: Hawke's Bay

Cost: $750.00 - Members will receive a $250.00 discount.

Presenter, Ian McIvor

To register email Rachael Armstrong - Rachael.Armstrong@hbrc.govt.nz

Workshop Programme

• Using poplar and willow in bioengineering
• Research supporting the bioengineer
• Role of nurseries to support River Groups
• River engineering in the region
• Tools and resources for the practitioner
• Field visit to river sites
• Sites visits will include the Tutaekuri north bank to the junction with the Mangaone River. 

Hawke's Bay will be a good study of the impacts of Gabrielle and resilience of willow and poplar bioengineering.

Large Woody Debris

While “slash” on beaches has been in the national news since Cyclone Gabrielle the impact of large woody debris in the rivers and coast of Gisborne Tairawhiti has been an issue since at least 2017 and to a lesser extent on a smaller scale earlier.

In the 2017 event a major storm (Cyclone Cook) generated large volumes of woody debris which was jammed up against bridges, along riverbanks and on beaches. Much of the commentary in the local media was that it was “largely willows and poplars from farms”. This didn’t gel with what I was seeing in the field so an investigation was undertaken which lead to a comprehensive report. https://www.gdc.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/10408/cyclone-cook-slash-investigation-2017-report.pdf

The assessment concluded that the primary source of the woody debris was exotic planation forestry, and not willows and poplars or indigenous material. During this investigation a standardised methodology to determining woody debris contributions. The most recent version of this methodology is available on the GDC website; https://www.gdc.govt.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0024/77271/LWD-Assessment-Guide-v2.2.pdf

In 2018 a larger event occurred with even more woody debris migrating to the catchments. During this event one dwelling was partially destroyed and the family sheltering on the roof had to be rescued by chopper. Subsequently multiple forestry companies were prosecuted by Gisborne District Council.

In 2023 the region suffered multiple major storms with associated influxes of large woody debris. Following Cyclone Hale in January a boy was killed by a log on Waikanae Beach and in Cyclone Gabrielle many bridges were lost or badly damaged as a result of woody debris. Large woody debris also resulted in significant damage to the Gisborne water supply pipeline. Since then a large sum has been invested in cleaning up woody debris in the rivers and on the beaches but we expect there to be ongoing influxes for many years.

Dr Murry Cave M.eng.NZ Principal Scientist Gisborne District Council

Dr Murry Cave is the Principal Scientist with the Gisborne District Council having joined the council in late 2016. Prior roles included management roles in the Ministry of Energy and then Ministry of Commerce as well as a consultant with Ernst and Young where he worked in the energy and international consulting group.

Dr Cave is an experienced Expert Witness having appeared in consent hearings related to Gisborne consent compliance issues relating to Gisborne Forestry and farming prosecutions. He has also been an expert witness before the Environment Court relating to Kuratau River Erosion, Buller Water Conservation Orders, & the Pike River Coal Mine Resource consents. He was an Expert Witness to the Pike River Royal Commission for the Dept of Conservation and others.

At Gisborne District Council, he undertook an in-depth investigation into the impacts of forestry woody debris during Cyclone Cook in 2017 and was lead Council expert for the 2018 Queens Birthday Tolaga Bay Storms Forestry prosecutions. He developed the business case for funding the acquisition of LiDAR over the Gisborne/Tairawhiti region. The many storms the Gisborne-Tairawhiti region since 2017 has been a major focus and he is presently focussed on the science response and recovery for the 5 major storms that have impacted the region so far in 2023.

Dr Cave coordinates funding for strategic research within the Council and works closely relationships with external agencies such as GNS, the Universities, NIWA, EQC, Manaaki Whenua LandCare Research and others.

He is a member of the Regional Council Science Managers group, and the Flood Warning group, the Landslides working group and the Natural Hazards Special Interest Group.

To register https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_g3a2IsMBSKaAUF0pWrXUBQ

 

Making Space for Water 

Making Space for Water programme was developed by Auckland Council in response to the extreme storms that impacted Auckland in early 2023. During this time, local and national states of emergency were declared and over 7,000 homes were evacuated. rainfall overwhelmed the stormwater network, and many people were not prepared for such significant flooding. Responding to and recovering from these events is complex and extends further than fixing damage to infrastructure. It was clear that the city could not afford to rebuild in the same way and that space must be made to accommodate water. Solutions must work with water, rather than seek to contain it and that nature-based solutions, such as restoring streams to their natural floodplains, are essential to manage the increasing volumes of rain Auckland is expected to face. This session will cover the development of the Making Space for Water programme, its objectives, and the interventions required to reduce Auckland's flood risk, increase resilience, and ensure residents are prepared for future flood events.

Tom Mansell

Tom is the head of the Healthy Waters Sustainable Partnerships unit at Auckland Council, where he leads a new partnership approach to water-related initiatives, developing projects collaboratively with input from the community, iwi, local boards, and government agencies. A key project under his leadership is Auckland Council’s flagship climate adaptation programme, ‘Making Space for Water,’ a 10-year flood resilience initiative developed in response to the severe storms that impacted Auckland in 2023.

With over 20 years of experience in delivering sustainable stormwater projects, Tom aims to transform Auckland's approach to stormwater management by prioritising nature-based solutions that enhance ecological health and community well-being. Committed to sustainable practices, Tom brings extensive technical expertise to his role, having successfully led numerous projects that integrate environmental stewardship with practical infrastructure development, ensuring that Auckland’s stormwater infrastructure not only meets current needs but is also prepared for future challenges.

To register https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_0lJLeX6DT5eG-C4PhldPxQ

Blue Green projects 

Blue-green network is a system of interconnected green spaces and water bodies that work together to manage stormwater in urban areas. The streams and green spaces mitigate the impact of flooding by creating natural ponding areas and making space for water to flow through the landscape. In heavy storms, rainfall can be diverted into these areas with reduced risk to people and property. During the Auckland Anniversary weekend storms, the city experienced record-breaking rainfall causing unprecedented levels of flooding, slips and damage across the region. Many existing blue-green networks performed well in the floods with the watercourse and surrounding vegetation capturing rain and directing flows away from properties, allowing the water to drain away safely. This session will discuss how blue green projects are being developed in Auckland in response to the storms in areas identified as having critical flood risks, feasible stormwater solutions and the opportunity to create wider community benefits.

Presenter: Konrad Heinemann 

Konrad is the programme manager for the Blue Green Network Programme in Auckland Council’s Healthy Waters Department, responsible for the development and delivery of a series of blue-green network projects across Tāmaki Makaurau over the next 10 years.

With a specific focus on integrating natural solutions into urban planning and development, Konrad aims to lead a step change in the way Auckland approaches its large urban stormwater assets, away from concrete lined conveyance to those that mimic nature and enhance the environment for the community to enjoy.

With over 20 years of experience as a stormwater engineer, Konrad brings a wealth of technical expertise to this role. Prior to managing the blue green network programme, Konrad led the departments in-house design office, overseeing the design and construction supervision of all scales of stormwater projects. Now, as the programme manager, Konrad leverages his engineering background to lead a team of project managers, consultants and contractors in implementing the ecological restoration of a number of the city’s streams, while also maximising the streams stormwater conveyance role in an environment of increasing urbanisation and climate change.

To register https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mcdR46QHRKGEPCPFjkqQBw

 

Site Visits / Field Trip locations TBC

• Waipaoa stopbank construction
• Te Kowhai Bridge 
• Mahunga floodgate 
• Tangihanga Station 
• Rangatira Marae / Te Karaka
• Hikuwai Bridge (1hr drive nth)
• Tiniroto / St Ledgers Bridge

 

Attendees to bring sturdy footwear & hats and sunscreen, Hi viz

Limited spaces 

Presenters include Murry Cave, Tim Barry, Joss Ruifork, Nick Gordon, GDC