The newest catchment group in the district is aiming to enhance and improve the little-known Mt Harding Creek.

With origins below McLennans Bush and Awa Awa Reserve at the bottom of Mt Hutt, supplemented by springs and stockwater, the creek is heavily modified as it passes through Methven, and heads mostly east to join the North Branch of the Ashburton River. Above Methven, the district council manages the creek for stockwater, and from Methven down, the regional council looks after it for drainage.

On the outskirts of Methven, a new subdivision Thyme Stream, has been designed around the creek. Local school children, families and the Methven Lions Club have extensively planted its banks in recent years. Locals and visitors enjoy the adjacent walkway which forms part of the Methven walkway network.

With the support of the Mid Canterbury Catchment Collective and Ashburton Lyndhurst Irrigation, around 30 community members came together last November to discuss forming a catchment group. Hot topics included; flooding outbreaks, poor bank stability, unreliable flows, lack of funding for native planting, and inconsistent messages from the two councils about how best to manage the creek. Landowners wanted to be able to do more to protect their properties from flooding events, and wanted to understand what was planned for the future to help them live safely alongside it.

A steering group has met three times and is starting to form a vision for the creek’s future. The concern at the moment is keeping flows. With the district council’s decision to close stockwater races within three years, two important water sources for the creek will be impacted. Significant flow augmentation from the Pudding Hill Stream and the North Ashburton River stockwater intakes may be lost. Some people believe Mt Harding Creek’s flow below Methven might cease in low rainfall and low spring-flow summers once stockwater is turned off. There is a concern about what will happen to the biodiversity within the creek. Landowners at the bottom end – bore the brunt of this in February – watching in despair as fish floundered as the creek dried up.

Flooding and drainage blockages have also caused grief for landowners, particularly along Forrest Drive in Methven, and on several low lying farms, but the stockwater decision may lessen this impact. It’s unknown exactly how it will play out, given more frequent high rainfall events experienced in the catchment in the past seven years. The group is keen to be part of conversations with the Ashburton District Council about closing stockwater races, and will be asking to input into the working group set up to manage this transition.

The Mt Harding Creek Catchment Group is open to anyone living above Methven, through to the Winchmore area where the creek enters the Ashburton River. The steering group will meet again over winter and welcomes interest and support from others in the catchment.

Contact facilitator Janine Holland if you want to know more on 0274604940 or [email protected]

By Janine Holland