Will bird strike be a project killer?

In the current edition of BayBuzz magazine, Budgets and Birdstrike: The Future of Ahuriri Estuary by Bonnie Flaws presents a detailed examination of the aspirations and challenges involved in the proposed Ahuriri Regional Park.

In the first instance, the Park is presented as a ‘natural’ solution to mitigating pollution of the estuary from industrial and farm run-off. This ‘mitigation’ as opposed to seriously tackling the actual sources of the pollution.

Development of the proposal is being overseen by a Joint Committee that includes councillors from NCC and the HB Regional Council, plus representatives of the Mana Ahuriri Trust.

The Joint Committee held its first post-election meeting this week with brand new NCC and HBRC councillors (no carry-overs) at the table.

I attended. What a waste of time.

Apart from whether proposed wetlands could actually filter the pollutants, which now suddenly seems to be unclear, one overriding issue stands as the deal-breaker for this project moving forward – bird strike. Will creating wetlands adjacent to the airport exacerbate safety risk to landing/departing planes, compounding risk at an airport that already tops NZ’s bird strike incidents by far.

Sitting with the NCC staff and consulting team is a ‘draft’ bird strike report that concludes:

“If the habitats proposed in the ARPM are created, the increased abundance and density of various avian species has the potential to cause heightened strike risk immediately within the critical landing and approach corridor of Hawke’s Bay Airport’s main runway (RWY 16/34) (see Figure 4). Additionally, the strike risk of other species currently categorised as ‘medium’ or ‘low’ risk may increase, leading to additional species of concern for Hawke’s Bay Airport operations.”

Suspecting that new Joint Committee councillors had not seen this conclusion, BayBuzz sent it to them, along with this question:

“Given that the level of concern about this risk seems  to be increasing, not decreasing, why is it appropriate to spend further ratepayer funds on developing the Ahuriri Regional Park proposition before the issue of bird strike is resolved to the satisfaction of HB Airport and Air NZ? Hopefully this issue will be discussed at Monday’s meeting.”

At the meeting, two councillors threw softball versions of that question (weakly, ‘should we be concerned?”), which NCC staff batted away effortlessly and without challenge.

Staff said they were awaiting a peer review of the report. Asked if there was a timeline for that, staff said they couldn’t answer because they were having difficulty finding a suitable peer reviewer. Hmmm!

And that was that. At least the meeting was brief.

So I repeat the question: Why is it appropriate to spend further ratepayer funds on developing the Ahuriri Regional Park proposition before the issue of bird strike is resolved to the satisfaction of HB Airport and Air NZ?

And put it plus these two additional questions to Napier Mayor McGrath:

  • Staff reports that they are seeking a peer review of the bird strike report, however they can’t appear to find an appropriate expert, so effectively there is no timeline for coming to agreement on this matter. Given the importance of this to the Airport and to Air NZ, do you believe they should have a ‘sign-off’ on selection of the peer reviewer, alongside NCC, HBRC and Mana Ahuriri?
  • Do you accept that the Airport/Air NZ ultimately have a ‘veto’ on this project if they are unconvinced on the safety issue?

Here’s his response:

“Key technical work, especially around bird strike and geotechnical risks, must be completed before any decisions are made about the future of the Ahuriri Regional Park project or related stormwater treatment projects. This is a complex project and we need to take an evidence-based approach.

“Any changes at Lagoon Farm must not increase bird strike risk at Hawke’s Bay Airport. Safety is non-negotiable. The airport is critical to our region, supporting jobs, travel, emergency response, and community wellbeing, so its input is essential.

“The project team will keep working with the airport, partners, stakeholders, and technical experts, under the Joint Committee.”

Plenty of consulting money yet to be spent before this project crash lands.

Search ‘bird strike’ on our website for more BayBuzz coverage of the issue.

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13 Comments

  1. If past decisions are considered to be the norm then this project will go the same way – all is well; everything has been considered; the project can proceed accordingly; good grief who knew that bird strikes would increase!; why does AirNZ want to stop flying into HB?; well we certainly took into account that bird strikes would be a factor but made sure that there would be mitigating factors; Council puts out a statement blaming contractors/experts for the demise of air traffic into HB; and HB becomes even more of a backwater! Anyway that’s the way I see a likely scenario given the history of council decision making!

  2. From my understanding, and enquiring, the birds of most concern re birdstrike at the airport are the Canadian geese that move in flocks. The other bird threats are ‘field’ birds – starlings and Spur-winged Plovers that land in the grassy areas surrounding the airport. What we are waiting for is the local bird experts (from OrnithologyNZ) to peer review the bird strike report that has been written by an out-of-town avian expert on bird-strike.
    At the ARP Joint Committee meeting last week, we heard another major issue has surfaced.
    The area of the proposed man-made wetland has permeable soils, meaning any water collecting there will filter down into the ground water. That seems to have raised concerns with council.
    Amongst the chatter in small side conversations, it appears greater emphasis may be given to treating pollution ‘upstream’ in the waterways, closer to the source.
    The ‘70%’ of Napier’s Stormwater, (think rainwater/road and roof run-off, etc), that goes directly to the estuary, is a complex issue.
    It certainly is a big change to the ARP Joint Committee, with new Chair Whare Isaac-Sharland (NCC) and Deputy Peter Eden (Mana Ahuriri Trust).
    Mana Ahuriri Trust CEO Parris Greening said at the meeting, this is about the ‘mauri’ of Te Whanganui a Ōrotu/Ahuriri Estuary.
    As stakeholders, (as we all are), we will continue to observe the meeting processes and the new team coming to grips with the issues.
    The Ahuriri Tributaries Catchment Group Trust are working in the rural areas with landowners to improve the quality of rural water run-off to the estuary.
    We are waiting for our urban councils to get action happening for their part to improvement of the water quality of Te Whanganui a Ōrotu/Ahuriri Estuary.

    Angie Denby
    Ahuriri Estuary Protection Society

  3. It’s unbelievable. Who the heck are these numb-nuts? Any risk to the safety of air traffic, the answer has to be ‘No’

  4. I often walk along the estuary that flows between the Airport area and the Poraiti hills and note not only the number of birds that frequent the area, but also which type. My most recent count was over 300 “water birds” (mainly Black Swan, and Canadian Geese but also some smaller wading birds) which frequent the area near the outlet from the (often polluted) Taipo Stream.
    There is a big difference in likely damage from “bird strike” when the bird weighs more like 20kg than 2kg. “Duck shooting season” is coming and that adds even more water birds to the population.

  5. After the port, Napier Airport is the lifeline of Hawkes Bay to the outside world at large. Anything proposal that stands in the way can’t be taken seriously. Sustainability means best outcomes for all parties involved should be considered. In this case the air traffic safety is certainly no. 1 on the list.

  6. To confirm, will the two chairs appointed be impartial or will we once again see a balance of power swayed towards iwi interests and airport interests over all interests like what happened under Deputy Annette Brosnan and Chad Tarehas watch? They both influenced several unpopular decisions during their time. This included PDP decisions such as intensification in Napier, more noise in, around and over residents properties, a waka hub and the new Council Chambers. Both had vested interests in the subjects, new they would be voted put and scurried away once they pushed through their plans. Richard, look forward to your response.

  7. Bonnie, ask current and previous Councillors who live on your street, Tom Parker Avenue, about why this plan eventuated when it should have been dead in the water. One was going to backpack around the world but I guess those millions didn’t get made so she’s still flapping get wings trying to get this one to fly. Easter is here!

  11. To be honest, more planes is fine. It is when they fly and how they fly. When they wake people up unnecessarily e.g. flying South over Napier properties after 10pm or before 7am and there is nothing else in the sky and they are off to Auckland or Gisborne or Wairoa, that is a problem. When the circle over and over peoples properties for training, that is like us coming and doing donuts outside your house. It is a waste of fuel, resources and is, well, rude. Emergency services same principal – vital to our community but flying over the same properties at 2am then 4am is gonna piss off even the calmest person. They will end up picking up more people to take to hospital having heart attacks from high blood pressure. Whoever is in charge, something to think about. Progress is fine until you piss too many people off. This James Young fellow mentioned in previous comments – it is deeply concerning if he is calling the shots without thinking of the consequences and very interesting to see has already gone to the High Court over the matter in Wellington.

  13. After reading this I thought I’ll check out FlightAware and see how many planes fly over Napier between 6am-7am unnecessarily. These four from Air NZ and Rural Air Work flew over the same properties. Poor buggers. I think you may be right, looks targeted. No other flights around until after 7am.
    https://uk.flightaware.com/live/flight/ANZ5002/history/20260408/1810Z/NZNR/NZAA
    https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/ANZ5771/history/20260408/1835Z/NZNR/NZCH
    https://uk.flightaware.com/live/flight/ZKSUZ/history/20260408/1828Z/NZNR
    https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/ANZ5006/history/20260408/1900Z/NZNR/NZAA
    https://www.flightaware.com/live/flight/ANZ5507/history/20260408/1840Z/NZGS/NZWN

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