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Using the Guide

This guide to resource management plans has been designed to help Forest and Bird branches and staff with their advocacy under the Resource Management Act (RMA). It provides information to be used in preparing submissions on resource management plans.

A resource management plan (a district plan or regional plan) is prepared by a regional or district council under the RMA. The importance of these plans for environmental managment, and the need for Forest and Bird involvement in their preparation is explained in the introduction on page 6.

Don't be daunted by this booklet. It may look long and complicated, but it's not designed to be read from cover to cover.

Chapter one gives the necessary background to resource management plans, and then some tips on dealing with the process of public involvement in their production.

The following chapters cover particular topic areas in detail, and give recommended policies which can be adopted by councils. The information and policies in these chapters may be applicable to a variety of plans, as explained at the beginning of each chapter.

The issue chapters are designed to simplify the process and help you prepare a detailed submission without having to develop your own alternatives to the policies in the plan. We have thoroughly analysed our suggested policies, methods and rules. They are based on controlling activities in order to manage their effects, and are entirely consistent with the RMA.

The model plan provisions in this guide have been separated from the general discussion of issues to make them easy to photocopy and attach to your submission. Often different sets of rules for regional and district plans are provided on separate pages. Make sure you choose the right combination of rules, and objectives and policies, for the plan you are making a submission on.

Not all the issues that you may wish to address in a submission are covered in detail by this guide. The focus is very much on direct habitat protection, but that should not be interpreted to mean that other issues are unimportant. Topics not covered directly include sustainable urban form and transport planning, solid waste management, subdivision and some freshwater management issues. Papers giving advice on these issues and others may be available in the near future.

Resource Management plans are public documents which help shape the future of communities and their environment. The law is designed to facilitate public involvement in plan preparation — now it is up to the public to have their say. The process can only work if people participate. You do not need to have a detailed technical knowledge of resource management issues or law to contribute — all you need is a point of view.

For further advice on resource management issues contact your nearest Forest and Bird office (contact details on the title page of every issue of Forest & Bird) or Duane Burtt or Barry Weeber at Central Office. Duane and Barry would also appreciate feedback on the content of this guide and how easy it is to use. These comments may well be incorporated into an expanded and improved second edition.

The task of preparing submissions on resource management plans is time consuming enough in itself. Taking the time out to develop a comprehensive advocacy position for these plans, and incorporating them into a written guide, was never going to be easy. Thanks must go to all the Forest and Bird staff and associates who accepted the pressure to take on this work within what must have seemed to be unrealistic time constraints.

Basil Graeme, our Tauranga field officer, drafted the terrestrial habitat, wetland and riparian management chapters.

Di Lucas, executive councillor and landscape planner, drafted the landscape chapter with comments and advice from fellow professionals Allan Rackham, Simon Smale, Dennis Scott and Steve Thompson.

The coastal management chapter was drafted by Eugenie Sage, Forest and Bird’s Christchurch field officer, and Mark Bellingham, former field director of the Society, now a private planning consultant and lecturer.

The information and monitoring chapter was drafted by Kate Lafferty, former resource management co-ordinator in the Auckland office who has now returned to her native Australia.

The overview chapter was drafted by Duane Burtt, currently co-ordinating resource management advocacy from the Wellington office.

Apart from the contributors above, the guide was edited and reviewed at various stages by staff members Kevin Smith, Barry Weeber and Ian Close; executive members Jon Jackson (president) and Keith Chapple (deputy president); and Christopher Milne, lecturer and editor of Forest and Bird’s Handbook of Environmental Law.

Special thanks to publications co-ordinator Catherine Hanham for taking a mass of written policy and commentary and turning it into a well presented document.

Duane Burtt, Editor
February 1995

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