Lake Management Strategy

Tiakina a Ranginui raua ko Papatuanuku kia a ora te mauri o nga taonga tuku iho
If you look after the lake, it will look after you

The Lake Ōmāpere Trustees and the Northland Regional Council have prepared a joint management strategy for Lake Ōmāpere and its wider catchment. The Lake Ōmāpere Trust and Northland Regional Council’s Chairman formally signed the ‘Restoration and Management Strategy for Lake Ōmāpere’ on 29 September 2006, at a ceremony held at the Parawhenua Marae near the lake.

Mark Farnsworth (NRC Chairman) and Mike Kelleher (Chairman of the Trust) signing the strategy.

The document is a management strategy that works towards improving the health of Lake Ōmāpere while re-establishing the role of the Lake Trustees as Kaitiaki. It is envisaged that if water quality in the lake can be improved, other flow-on benefits and purposes will result in time, for example, improved biodiversity or opportunities for economic development and use of the lake.

Issues, visions and aims for the future of the lake were sought at hui, public meetings and through one-on-one meetings with adjoining landowners. These issues, visions and aims were incorporated into the strategy and long-term actions to address these are also being developed. Actions such as aquatic weed management, integrated catchment management programmes, environmental farm management plans for individual farms, as well as biodiversity enhancement and regular monitoring of water quality are some of the tools that will be used.