From 5 October 2023, the following requirements will no longer apply to the geographic area identified as the Upper Taieri Scroll Plain:
- excluding non-intensively grazed beef cattle and deer from lakes and wide rivers on low slope land (regulations 14 and 15); and
- excluding all stock from natural wetlands (regulations 16, 17 and 18).
The Upper Taieri Scroll Plain is a meander system where the Taieri River meanders across vast flood plains and, due to variable water flows, has created diverse wetland habitats and oxbow lakes. It comprises of the Styx, the Maniototo Basins and the old Taieri Lake bed, which contain diverse wildlife and habitats that reflect the age, isolation, sediment regime and frequency of water flows and impoundments. The size and complexity of these wetlands mean they are unique and particularly challenging to exclude stock from.
The above exception has been provided on the basis Otago Regional Council implements suitable provisions in its regional plan for managing grazing within the wetlands, as soon as reasonably practical and no later than 1 July 2025.
Other requirements to exclude stock and manage wetlands will continue to apply in respect of the wetlands. This includes existing direction in the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020 and National Environmental Standards for Freshwater 2020 (see wetlands implementation guidance).