Opua-based Jim Lyle is Northland’s new Regional Harbourmaster.
Too many patches of native bush, wetlands, lakes and other natural areas in Northland are being strangled or taken over by garden plants that have ‘jumped the fence’ and gone wild, groups working to control them say.
All Northland Regional Council offices will be closed from 2pm Friday, 24 December until the morning of Wednesday, 05 January for the Christmas-New Year holiday break.
Passengers are reminded that CityLink Whangarei buses will not run over the several days that make up the official Christmas and New Year public holidays.
A proposed Helena Bay coastal walkway and pontoon designed to give a property owner easy access to his boat can go ahead, an independent commissioner has ruled.
Landowners in Whangarei’s Otaika catchment are being asked to provide details of their water use as part of a pilot local authority programme designed to ensure the region’s water resources aren’t over-allocated in future.
The Northland Regional Council has a new Regional Policy and Development Committee and will also hold its monthly full Council meetings around the region on a rotating basis over the next three years.
Summer water quality tests to indicate how safe Northland’s most popular beaches, rivers and lakes are for swimming are under way again.
The Puhoi to Wellsford motorway extension will be a win:win for everyone, says Northland Regional Council Deputy Chairman John Bain.
Lake water quality in Northland has improved over the past five years according to a recent National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research Ltd. (NIWA) report.
Independent Commissioners have granted the Far North District Council (FNDC) the resource consents it has been seeking for Rawene’s Wastewater Treatment Plant.
More than a dozen experts on a range of environmental initiatives from creating gecko gardens to earth building are to share their knowledge with over 160 Northland Enviroschools students and teachers later this month.
Forty-seven students from throughout Northland have gathered in Whangarei for the 2010 Northland Regional Council Youth Summit.
Craig Brown has been elected as the Northland Regional Council’s new Chairman.
Northlanders are being urged to have their say on a discussion document that will help set the scene for a major rewrite of a local authority plan that will play a key role in the region’s future.
Fifty students from 21 Northland schools will gather for a special Youth Summit at Whangarei’s Onerahi foreshore early next month to discuss coastal environmental issues – and what they can do to make a difference.
Tony Davies-Colley, Bronwyn Hunt and Graeme Ramsey will be the three new faces on the Northland Regional Council with final election results today confirming a line-up unchanged from Election Day.
Dozens of Northlanders are gearing up to take part in ‘Exercise Tangaroa’ - a day-long national Civil Defence exercise centred on the approach of fictional tsunami generated by an earthquake off South America.
A round of several meetings in the Hokianga to discuss local authority draft river management plans has now been rescheduled for early November.
An unexpected clash with upcoming Waitangi Tribunal hearing dates has prompted the postponement of a planned round of several meetings in the Hokianga to discuss local authority draft river management plans.
Whangarei residents are being urged to leave their cars at home and take a CityLink bus instead to mark World Car Free Day later this month.
A 17-year-old Kerikeri High School student’s study into post-harvest oyster management has earned her this year’s Northland Regional Council ‘Excellence Award’ at the Top Energy Far North Science and Technology Fair.
Residents of some of Northland’s most flood-prone communities are being invited to meet with local authorities to provide their feedback on more than 20 draft river management plans tailor-made for their local areas.
Northland communities keen to better manage mangroves in their areas are being urged to apply for a share of a $135,000 local authority fund.
Whangarei District Council has effectively been given until early February to adopt a comprehensive upgrade programme for its Whangarei Wastewater Treatment Plant - or risk the rejection of a crucial consent change it wants.
A study into how well an urban carpark ‘rain garden’ cleans stormwater has earned a Whangarei student a $1000 Northland Regional Council award at the Central Northland Science and Technology Fair.
Twenty-five people are to contest eight seats on the Northland Regional Council at this year’s Saturday, 09 October local authority elections.
Would-be Northland Regional Council members have until noon on Friday 20 August to get their nominations in if they wish to stand as a candidate in the 09 October local authority elections.
Officials are hoping up to 90 Northland contractors and consultants will attend one of a series of seminars designed to better protect the region’s waterways from harmful sediment runoff.
The ratepayer-funded Northland Events Centre in Whangarei has been shortlisted in the 2010 World Architecture Festival Awards.
Independent Commissioners have recommended the Conservation Minister grant the Whangarei District Council permission for emergency sewage discharges from its Okara Park Pump Station to the Hatea River.
Today’s announcement that the Government will contribute more than $2 million to an aeromagnetic minerals survey in Northland has been welcomed by the Far North District and Northland Regional Councils.
People keen to give local body politics a go and help shape Northland’s future – now’s your chance!
People with pet rabbits are being warned to make sure the animals are vaccinated ahead of a controlled release of the rabbit-killing calicivirus in the Far North this month.
Farmers are being urged to apply to a local authority fund which may help them cover some of the cost of keeping dairy cattle out of the Northland’s streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands.
Independent Commissioners have granted consents for the raft of activities needed to build the Whangarei District Council’s proposed multimillion dollar new bridge across the Hātea River.
One of Northland’s best-known ‘weedbusters’ has hung up his sprayer for the final time, signalling the end of more than 25 years fighting pest plants throughout the region.
Hundreds of thousand of juvenile money spiders are being blamed for a natural phenomenon that has prompted calls to the Northland Regional Council recently.
Extra spending on water quality work and to potentially unlock some of the region’s mineral wealth are among new initiatives in the Northland Regional Council’s freshly-adopted Annual Plan.
Four hundred grass carp are to be released into Lake Heather, north of Kaitaia, in a bid to wipe out two invasive weeds threatening some of the nation’s most precious dune lakes.
A trail of possum-killing cyanide poison laid illegally along an approximately two-kilometre long stretch of Kaipara forest road could have potentially put lives at risk, Northland Regional Council experts say.
Projects from honey harvesting to ridding exotic plant pests are among 19 school initiatives to share this year’s $20,000 Northland Regional Council Environmental Curriculum Awards (ECAs).
A thorough investigation of Tutukaka Harbour has turned up nothing unusual or invasive lurking under the water - a fact Northland Regional Council Biosecurity staff are thrilled about.
Weekend rain has delivered further relief to parched eastern areas of Northland but the region overall still requires significantly more rain to end its worst drought in decades.
Independent Commissioners have ruled Northland marine farmers should provide surety of $9000 a hectare or $6.95 per lineal metre of rack to cover the cost of cleaning up their oyster farms if they’re abandoned.
The public has one week left to comment on the Northland Regional Council’s plans for the next year.
A fictional spill that sends tonnes of oil from a ship on to Bream Bay’s sandy beaches will form the basis of the latest regional oil spill exercise next month.
Rain which fell on much of Northland yesterday and overnight was welcome, but once again will offer little long-term relief from the region’s ongoing drought, the Northland Regional Council says.
Schools are being urged to act quickly to try to win a share of this year’s $20,000 Northland Regional Council Environmental Curriculum Awards.
The public has its chance to comment on the Northland Regional Council’s plans for the next year when a one-month submission period on its Draft Annual Plan begins on Saturday 10 April.
Holiday weekend rain will have little practical effect on the region’s ongoing drought, Northland Regional Council experts say.
Northland is marking New Zealand’s first Enviroschools Action Celebration Week in a range of diverse ways from beekeeping to papermaking.
The Northland Regional Council is adding its voice to calls for Northlanders to join millions of others around the globe and switch off their lights and other electrical appliances to mark ‘Earth Hour 2010’.
Ratepayers are being asked whether they’ll help fund initiatives designed to grow the region’s economy, improve its water quality and better manage mangroves and sediment as Northland Regional Councillors look to set rates for the year.
Kaitaia residents need to work harder to conserve water – but the Northland Regional Council will ensure there is enough water available to service essential town supplies despite the ongoing drought.
Self – not public – interest is behind a looming push by Northland’s District Councils for a restructure of the region’s local government, Regional Councillors claim.
UPDATE No.4 1530hrs: Northland’s Civil Defence representatives are urging people in the region’s coastal areas to continue to err on the side of caution as the national response to today’s tsunami eases off.
UPDATE No.3 1045hrs: Parts of Northland have experienced fluctuations in sea level and tidal surges have been reported in some East Coast areas as a tsunami generated by a Chilean earthquake impacts on the region.
UPDATE NO.2 0550hrs: Local Civil Defence officials have repeated earlier warnings for Northlanders to stay away from East Coast beaches and estuaries as a tsunami heads towards New Zealand.
UPDATE NO.1 0300hrs - People along Northland’s east coast are being warned to stay away from beaches and estuaries as a tsunami heads towards New Zealand.
Breakfast sausages flavoured with the peppery natives kawakawa and horopito are the latest wild food treats the Northland Regional Council is hoping will lure visitors to its marquee at the upcoming Dargaville field days.
Applications for the raft of consents needed to build the Whāngārei District Council’s proposed multimillion dollar new bridge across the Hātea River have been lodged with the Northland Regional Council.
An injured 76-year-old who battled 70 knot winds and 15 metre seas returning from last year’s Auckland to Noumea yacht race has been named the Northland Sailor of the Year for 2009.
A major $1 million-plus campaign designed to halt the spread of the invasive Manchurian wild rice plant - and then steadily reduce its impact on Northland - is progressing well.
Changes to Whāngārei’s CityLink public bus service – including dropping a number of seldom-used trips – will take effect in a little over a fortnight’s time.
Northlanders are being urged to apply for a share of a multimillion dollar Government fund that will pay them to plant forests to help meet New Zealand’s obligations to reduce greenhouse gases.
Public submissions on three strategies designed to provide a more streamlined, flexible regime for managing Northland’s plant and animal pests will be considered in Whangarei shortly.
More than $2 million of work including more than 200,000 cubic metres of earthworks and the removal of 2000-plus trees has resulted in marked improvements to the Awanui Flood Management Scheme, local authority experts say.
Northlanders are being asked for their views on a long-term vision outlining the way the region’s transport infrastructure should be developed over the next 30 years.
The drought rapidly tightening its grip on an increasingly parched Northland may soon force the Northland Regional Council to limit the water taken from the region’s rivers and streams, its hydrologists warn.
Whāngārei’s CityLink public bus service is to drop a number of seldom-used trips – mainly in the early morning and evening - as part of a number of changes to be introduced from March.