Partnerships give boost to deliver $2M in environmental projects

By allowing areas to naturally regenerate, managing weeds and maintaining native planting, it's become one of the most significant natural lowland wetlands in the district, covering around seven hectares of land over two areas in the catchment.

Senior biodiversity advisor, Heath Melville, said that with 900 sedges, 40 kahikatea and 950 tree, shrub and flax species planted, Nagari now provides an ecologically rich habitat for plant, bird, animal and aquatic life.

"The existing rushland and stream is home to pūkeko, ducks, kingfisher and heron, along with various invertebrates, fungi and fish species."

Heath believes Environment Canterbury's long-term commitment to the project and community partnership is the key to its success, including support from Kaikōura District Council and the Kaikōura Water Zone Committee.

"Our role has been about demonstrating a 'can-do' attitude and ensuring the completion of a range of freshwater-biodiversity projects in this catchment. Locals involved in past community planting days have opportunities to revisit the sites and witness our shared vision for freshwater, unfold."

Along with aesthetic improvements and enhanced mahinga kai and cultural values, there have also been notable ecological benefits. Establishing native vegetation in riparian areas and wetlands on private and public land will provide in-stream shade, reduced soil erosion and nutrient loss, provided food sources for native fauna, and native seed sources to spread.

The next steps will be continuing the mahi with both the urban and rural community, and looking for further opportunities to collaborate on freshwater-focused initiatives - with growing interest from local schools.

We knew that landowners needed urgent help to get these fences repaired quickly to stop predators from entering conservation areas. In the first financial year (2021/2022), we provided $93,000 of financial assistance to more than 20 Eastern Bays landowners to undertake this work. This year (2022/2023), we built on these efforts and provided a further $39,000 to assist landowners in Goughs Bay and Hickory Bay.

Nigel and Tracy Flatman's property in Goughs Bay was one of the areas that was hardest hit. Nigel said sections of the Goughs Bay stream looked like a bomb had gone off.

"A wall of water had ripped banks to pieces, stripping off fences and forest and destroying floodgates. The Environment Canterbury funding was a godsend, allowing the progressive restoration and extension of flood damaged conservation fencing and flood gates on the property. We have completed about 600 metres of fence and all the floodgates were repaired."

In Hickory Bay, the funding helped with repairs to a QEII Trust covenant boundary fence that protects 150 hectares of regenerating and second growth hardwood forest. It also supported repairs to floodgates and fencing on another property, protecting surrounding native forest and the Ellangowan Stream.

Many landowners in the area were also concerned about the impact of the floods on native fish populations. They had been finding dead fish along stream banks and even in adjacent paddocks. In 2022/2023 we worked with landowners and other agencies to undertake fish survey work. While only a limited number of streams have been surveyed to date, preliminary information is encouraging and suggests that populations are recovering.

Zone delivery lead for Banks Peninsula and Selwyn Waihora, Gill Jenkins, has been pleased to see the results of this funding.

"Providing assistance to protect some of the areas that are so important to biodiversity on the Peninsula was one way we could help when the community needed it," she said.

"We knew the funding and advice would assist with the post-flood recovery of biodiversity and the enhancement of water quality and mahinga kai values, which are key priorities of the Banks Peninsula Zone Committee and Canterbury Water Management Strategy."

These weeds can dominate existing native vegetation and landscapes, as well as modify river channels, which are important habitat for threatened species such as the upland longjaw galaxais fish, and braided river birds including the kakī/black stilt, tarapirohe/black-fronted tern and ngutu pare/wrybill.

Upper Waitaki zone lead, Peter Burt, said the joint project is a fantastic example of undertaking proactive weed control work to ensure a better ecological future for a special area.

"This is a stunning and remote landscape and luckily the horse hadn't bolted yet in terms of these invasive species, so we were able to take advantage of a window to take action and protect the area. Once the seedlings for these invasives spread, it's very difficult to get rid of them.

"Working collaboratively was the key to being able to complete this project over a three-year period and we are really pleased to have got these weeds under control over such a vast area."

Contributions from agencies and landowners provided a combined budget between $70,000 and $100,000 per year. This investment has been successful in removing crack willows and lupins from 1,800 hectares of braided river and wetland habitat, and controlling outlying populations of cotoneaster, elderberry and old man's beard that threaten beech forest and native shrublands in the upper valleys.

DOC senior ranger for project river recovery, Dean Nelson, said that recent surveys had indicated the Dobson was an important site for the threatened upland longjaw galaxies.

"This work to maintain the dynamics of the braided river channels is critical to ensuring that this population continues to thrive."

A key challenge for the team was the scale and variety of the different types of weeds.

Senior biodiversity officer Kennedy Lange said they used different approaches across the area.

"We needed to control outlier populations as a priority while chipping away at core populations to limit seed input. Control techniques included ground spraying and cutting, and aerial boom and spot spraying - and the follow up assessments have shown excellent results so far."

With large parts of the project area now only needing minor maintenance control, the project partners are now setting their sights on extending the work to include the Lake Ōhau shoreline and surrounds to ensure these landscapes and habitats are protected into the future.

"This is still largely a natural ecosystem compared to other places in New Zealand' Kennedy added, "so it's great that we've been able to nip some of these weed issues in the bud."