Ducks Unlimited NZ

Displaying items by tag: Wairarapa Moana

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Sunday, 02 May 2021 23:19

Wairio Wetlands Guided walk-through

Wairio Walkthrough

Sunday 9 May 2021 at 12.30pm

Rural Women NZ Martinborough invite you to join them on a guided walk through
the Wairio Wetlands on the eastern shore of Lake Wairarapa.

4.2 km one-way, round trip 7 km. Return transport provided if required.

Witness the 15 year restoration programme led by Ducks Unlimited NZ.

Good walking track, sensible footwear required but unfortunately not suitable for wheelchairs.
No toilet facilities available. No dogs allowed. Will go ahead rain or shine.

Directions: From Kahutara Road turn on to Parera Road and continue for approximately 2.6 km.
The gathering point will be clearly indicated.

Cost is $5.00 per person, with all funds to support Associated Country Women of the World,
to assist with community projects in developing countries.

Contact: Marilyn Law 027 2239354 or Viv Malneek 027 5358805 if further information required.

Published in Wairio News
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Monday, 22 July 2019 14:37

Wetlands to protect

Before human settlement (from around 1250–1300 AD), freshwater wetlands covered about 670,000 hectares of New Zealand. Now it is 89,000 ha – a loss of 90 percent. Fertile lowland swamps have been lost in greater numbers than those that were infertile or at high altitudes.

Wetland importance is often under-rated. Groups like our own DU, Wetland Care and the National Wetlands Trust are working towards reversing this trend.

There is a great diversity of wildlife in our wetlands with more native birds, fish, 
invertebrates and plants than most other habitats, yet many wetland species are threatened with extinction. Wetlands have high recreational values, and perform vital ecosystem services such as improving water quality and reducing flood risks.

They have a big role in managing climate change. Healthy peat bogs are year-round sinks of 2-5 tonnes of carbon per hectare – locking it up in their soil indefinitely.

Wetlands are of cultural and spiritual significance to Maori. They provided Maori with food (wildfowl, eels and other freshwater fish), taro cultivation, harakeke (flax) for weaving and other materials for medicinal, food, building, and craft use.

A plethora of wetland to visit
 
Farewell Spit - at the northern most tip of the South Island is one of our most important wetland areas. Part of the spit forms a Ramsar Wetland site of significance and is an important staging area for migratory shorebirds on the East Asia - Australasia path. Just two hours from Nelson, the area has been a wildlife sanctuary since the 1930s and is a haven for over 90 bird species.
 
Whangamarino
 
Whangamarino - 62km south of Auckland is the second largest bog and swamp complex
in the North Island - another Ramsar site. 

Managed by DOC, the 5923ha of peat bog, swampland, mesotrophic lags, open water and river systems, is an important habitat for threatened species like Australasian bittern, grey teal, spotless crake, the North Island fernbird and black mudfish.

Firth of Thames

At the base of Coromandel Peninsula, the Firth of Thames has 8500ha of wide inter-tidal flats which attract thousands of migratory wading birds. Some make the arduous 10,000km journey south from the Arctic in spring and fly north again in the autumn; others fly 1000km north from the braided rivers of the South Island in the autumn and return in the spring.

Wairarapa Moana Wetlands Park

Lake Wairarapa, Lake Onoke and their associated wetlands make up the largest 
wetland complex in the southern North Island, supporting native plants and animals of national and international importance.

The diverse habitats within Wairarapa Moana attract a wide range of wetland birds - about 100 species including international migratory birds.
 
The area is also of national importance to fisheries. Among 10 native species, which migrate between the sea and fresh water, are long-finned and short-finned eel, brown mudfish and giant kokopu.

Lower Kaituna Wildlife Reserve

Northeast of Te Puke, western Bay of Plenty, Kaituna is a reminder of how the country used to be with an abundance of cabbage trees and flax, pukeko prowling through raupo, numerous ducks, shags and pied stilts foraging for food in the waterways.

West Coast wetlands

The South Island’s West Coast has a variety of large and valuable wetlands, including lakes, swamps, fens, bogs, marshes, lagoons,
estuaries and pakihi / poorly drained, infertile land. Most are fully protected and are important breeding grounds for rare species.
 
The only kōtuku / white heron breeding colony in New Zealand is located on the Waitangiroto River close to Okarito Lagoon - north of Franz Josef glacier. The region is one of the last strongholds for the Australasian bittern and a large part of the habitat is suitable for crakes - a rarely seen shy bird.

Ō Tū Wharekai wetland

Ō Tū Wharekai, covering the Ashburton lakes and Upper Rangitata River in Canterbury, is an unspoiled, intact, intermontane wetland system and is nationally important for wildlife.

Otago wetlands

Lake Waipori, Lake Waihola and their associated wetlands are the most significant waterfowl habitat in Otago 40km south of Dunedin. The lakes are shallow and drain through an extensive swamp into the Waipori River and then the Taieri River.

Over 60 species of bird live in or visit the wetland. It is now privately owned by Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and protected by a QE II National Trust Open Space Covenant.
 
Southland wetlands
 
The waters, mudflats and marginal vegetation of Southland’s large tidal estuaries and coastal lagoons - Jacobs River Estuary, New River Estuary, Bluff Harbour and Awarua Bay, Waituna Lagoon and Toetoes Harbour - make up the most important bird habitat areas in Southland.

More than 80 bird species have been sighted in the area, 65 of which are dependent on the estuarine environment.

Southland’s estuaries rank alongside Farewell Spit and Lake Ellesmere as the top three wading bird habitats in the South Island.
 

 

Published in Issue 163
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Friday, 19 July 2019 13:49

Wairio Wetland Drone Tour

Drone Tour video shot

 

Drone Tour of the Wairio wetlands

Watch the Drone Tour of the wetlands that was created by the Victoria University Research team 

Drone view flying over the Wairio Complex

 

Published in Wairio News
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Friday, 19 July 2019 13:46

Video interview

Ross Cottle being interviewed at the Wairio Wetland in the Wairarapa

 

DU President - Video Interview

Well-known journalist, Piers Fuller, interviews DUNZ President Ross Cottle about the history of the celebrated Wairio Wetland development

You can view the video interview here

Published in Wairio News
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Friday, 19 July 2019 10:32

Classroom in a Wetland

Preparations for underfill planting

 

Victoria University’s classroom in a wetland!

 Five years ago, Victoria University Wellington students planted a swathe of nursery trees in the Wairio Wetland. 

This landmark wetland habitat was created in the late 1980s by Ducks Unlimited in Collaboration with the Department of Conservation (DOC).

Last week the Victoria University biodiversity team  were back.  Stephen Hartley and his team were armed with over 300 specimen trees (Kahikatea, Totara, Tawaki (or Swamp) Maire & Cabbage)- sourced thanks to a $2000 grant from DOC - to continue their comparative research into cost effective restoration processes by adding these trees as infill planting. 

The cold but enthusiastic University team were supported by members of Ducks Unlimited and DOC.

Published in Wairio News
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Monday, 04 September 2017 12:19

Eye-catching Signs

Links to Boggy Pond, Wairio Wetlands, Lake Ferry, Onoke Spit and Pounui Lagoon, all in southern Wairarapa.
Signs of the Times
South Featherston School designed some signs for the Wairarapa Moana Wetlands Project to help raise awareness of the threatened birds breeding around these areas. The signs were put in place and each has an attached map and some photos showing the locations.
Anna Burrows, ranger and operation (Biodiversity) for DoC oversaw and organised the locations, and now it is time to take them down.
“I’ll pull them all back in at the end of February once the birds have finished breeding,” Anna said.
 
Anna Burrows.
Published in Issue 170
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