Pohangina Valley Landscape and Community Development

Parminter TG¹*, Brock JL²

1. AgResearch, Ruakura Research Centre, Hamilton, New Zealand
2. Pohangina Valley, Manawatu, New Zealand

Pohangina Valley is a 35km river valley in the foothills of the Ruahine Ranges with about 250 families living in it. The Valley was developed early last century by saw-millers and was then used for livestock farming. In recent years the Valley has become popular with lifestyle homesteaders.

There is an increasing influx of new people to the valley bringing with them new cultures and values. Current residents in the Valley want to promote harmonious social development and ensure that there is on-going respect for the Valley’s unique natural environment. They are facilitating their own planning processes and working with Local Government agencies to learn more about their landscape and their own social values and then to use this information to develop a Pohangina Valley Community Development Plan.

The project which began in 2004 involves holding community meetings, workshops, and forums to encourage full and open participation and collective decision making. A community newsletter is used to promote project activities and circulate results and a community group is responsible for implementing the priorities.

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