The Auckland-based society has sought an Environment Court declaration about the process followed by the Mackenzie District Council in allowing development of tussock grassland.
It claimed the council violated its District Plan in allowing intensification of agriculture by approving irrigation, allowing vegetation clearance without resource consent and failing to monitor indigenous vegetation.
But Williamson said it was another case of an outside environmental group meddling in the district.
He was aware of the granting of one new consent to irrigate and that was an addition to an existing consent made possible by an extension to an existing irrigation scheme.
Williamson said environmental groups like the EDS were trying to impose their views on locals trying to make a living, without actually visiting and viewing the land and the biodiversity values they claimed they were trying to protect.
The Mackenzie Basin suffered from the loss of top soil through severe wind erosion. Farmers trying to reduce that were being curbed by environmental groups.
“I’m not sure if they want the Mackenzie to be left to blow away and disintegrate. It is certainly not knee high tussock like it was 100 years ago.”
Society chairman Gary Taylor said the case was about getting a legal interpretation of a rule in the council’s District Plan that allowed land clearance and development.
The society was also concerned at what Taylor saw as rush of irrigation consents from ECan.
Taylor supported the establishment of the proposed Mackenzie Country Trust that he hoped would negotiate an “acceptable balance of interests”.
In 2013 regulatory, farming and environmental groups, including the society, signed an agreement for a shared vision for the basin.
It also proposed the establishment of the Mackenzie Country Trust to implement the integrated conservation and development strategies agreed to by signatories.
That allowed for a mix of irrigated and dryland agriculture, tourism and protection and enhancement of the basin’s natural assets and the management of biodiversity and landscape values.
The agreement acknowledged the benefits of irrigation in enhancing the conservation of dryland vegetation as well as financial and land management benefits.
The agreement said of 269,000ha flat and easy country in the basin 7500ha was proposed for small-scale irrigation on 29 sheep and beef properties and 9600ha was proposed for large-scale, intensive livestock farming on five properties.
Of the 269,000ha, the Department of Conservation managed 13,000ha but the plan identified another 150,000ha of biodiversity and landscape values that needed protection. Slightly more than 5000ha of that land would come under DOC management as the result of being surrendered through tenure review.
The agreement also identified 38,000ha of land as already developed and another 26,000ha that could potentially be irrigated.
Environment Canterbury (ECan) confirmed it issued resource consent for 6937ha in the basin and had consent applications for a further 4800ha, either being processed or before the Environment Court.
In a statement ECan said demand increased following the 2015 release of the Waitaki Catchment Water Allocation Regional Plan which freed up access to hydro electric water.
“However, not all of the resource consent applications received in the years following that were granted.
In the last five years ECan had declined applications for more than 2500ha of irrigation, primarily because of concerns about the effects on water quality and landscape values.”
The society said in a statement it sought greater protection of the basin’s landscape, geomorphic and ecological values by the council’s District Plan.
“The Mackenzie Country is the last bastion for many of New Zealand’s unique ecosystems and indigenous plants and creatures, some of which aren’t found anywhere else in the world.”
The court hearing was set down for two-weeks at the end of January.
Mackenzie District Council chief executive Wayne Barnett said the council was considering its response to EDS application to the Environment Court.
