Not Good Enough
I recently visited the Kiwitea Stream in the Manawatu. I noticed some extreme river works had been done to the entire stream channel that has resulted in a mass sediment load to the reach. This can result in degraded spawning habitat, reduced interstitial dissolved oxygen and reduced habitat quality for the entire stream fauna. I lodged this with Horizons Regional Council Pollution hotline on December 30th. Today is January 18th and I'm still waiting for a response. I wouldn't call it a hotline!...
January 18, 2024Our new EIA resident!!
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January 12, 2024Community Planting Morning, Beachaven
A big thanks to Pest Free Kaipatiki for hosting this vegetation planting morning in a stream gully at Beachaven. We even get people come to these events from GreyLynn! And thanks to our Kaipatiki Local Board for supporting these initiatives. Getting like minded people together is a great thing....
September 7, 2023Ecology Drinks
A big thanks to Dr. Abbas Akbaripasand and the crew at Tonkin and Taylor for organising and hosting last nights Ecology Drinks in Auckland at the T&T workplace. It was a good opportunity to meet with fellow ecology practitioners and discuss current challenges we deal with. In short its a great opportunity to 'talk shop' and reconnect with colleagues. Much appreciated....
August 25, 2023Biodiversity Credit System Proposal
A biodiversity credit system may be with us in the future. A number of models are proposed, nothing is set in concrete yet but we need to be cautious about how it would work and who would govern it. To many of us the commodification of nature is perverse and what dollar or credit value can you possibly place on nature? Also there is the risk that this could become a complete failure (like our emissions trading scheme for which current carbon credit value is at an all time low, while we continue ...
August 16, 2023National Policy Statement For Indigenous Biodiversity
The National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity comes into effect on 4th August. This document directs Councils to protect, maintain and restore indigenous biodiversity requiring no further decline nationally. Significant Natural Areas (SNA) feature and guidance is provided on managing adverse effects on SNAs for subdivision use and development. If you own a property in an SNA, it would pay to have a read through, particularly if you intend to develop in the near future....
August 2, 2023How to prepare your macroinvertebrate sample for dispatch
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June 21, 2023Urban Stormwater Monitoring in the Wairarapa - First Flush Sampling
We have begun a stormwater sampling regime for Carterton District Council's urban stream environments. The photo shows a cool low tech way to capture the first flush event. As the stream rises , more stormwater is entering the system and the bottle attached to the waratah simply samples the surface water which is then despatched to a lab for metals analyses....
June 11, 2023Kahika Creek - A Sad Case Story
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May 8, 2023Another pest fish out of the water.
I extracted this fish using a technique called fly fishing!!...
April 26, 2023Wetland Gully in Hamilton
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April 6, 2023Awataha Greenway Opening , April 1st 2023
The Awataha Greenway opening occurred on Saturday April 1st. Despite average weather conditions there was a good turn out of people (likely to be in the thousands). It provided the opportunity for the Northcote community to celebrate the daylighting of over 1 km of stream with riparian planting and exploring the network of public open spaces that follow the Awataha Stream channel. A greenway is a green ‘corridor’ designed to make it easy and pleasant for people to move around part of a ...
April 4, 2023Kahika Creek - Sewage Fungus and Detergent Foam - not a good look
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March 27, 2023Our latest newsletter
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February 3, 2023Contrasting Colours of a Wetland in Coromandel
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January 18, 2023Giant Kokopu in Tuakau!
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December 7, 2021Here's good size longfin eel I captured recently!
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September 30, 2021Grazing heavy stock on steep terrain - it's nuts. This photo was taken from Battle Hill
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August 6, 2021Community Science In Action
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June 29, 2021Chelsea Reservoirs
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June 21, 2021Awataha Stream Restoration
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May 27, 2021Low Ecosystem Value?
I get quite annoyed when statements about 'low ecosystem value' get made without any reference to scale or ecosystem type. What might be classified as 'low ecosystem value' at a small scale e.g. at a development site, could be high ecosystem value at a larger scale. The point being we are living on a planet of dwindling resources where natural ecosystems are being destroyed for the sake of development, so surely any ecosystem is high value on a global scale because ECOSYSTEMS SUPPORT LIFE. If we...
April 14, 2021Fish Monitoring and Identification Course
We recently held a fish monitoring and identification course. Thirteen people attended from consultancies and Auckland Council. On day one we went through the tables of the NZ Freshwater Fish Sampling Protocols (2013). This enabled us to compare and discuss efficiency of sampling methods. In the afternoon we went out and electric fished the Oruamo Stream. This revealed Kōura, shortfin eels and redfin bullies. We set fine mesh fykes and g minnow traps. The following day we checked these traps w...
March 29, 2021A good sign! Inanga and Redfin Bully
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November 4, 2020Kaeo Agriculture Field Day
The Kaeo Agriculture Field Day on November 4th 2020 really brought home to me what we mean by best management practice for sheep and beef farms. The field day held at 133 Te Ranga Rd, included a tour that showed some great riparian planting of seepage zones to filter sediment and nutrients to ensure minimal harm to the stream channel further downslope of the farm. I even got out the night before and set some fish traps! We caught inanga, red fin bully, common bully, longfin and shortfin ee...
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