Describing, Understanding and Improving the Between the Domes Catchment with Wetland Development

In July 2021 the group secured funding from Thriving Southland for a major project – the project had three main objectives:

1. Knowing the landholders and operators and understanding the catchment in its current state

2. Use the skills of NIWA combined with local farmers to site and design wetlands and sediment/nutrient capture structures for most cost-effective environmental effect.

3. Produce an electronic and physical booklet detailing the catchment.

These were broken down into three workstreams for the project:

1. Catchment Landholder Survey
   As a relatively new Catchment Group with high diversity of land use, Between the Domes is yet to achieve full engagement with landholders, land managers and the residents of Lumsden and Mossburn. A draft survey has been developed that will be used to establish key contacts for the 135 landholders/managers, and some baseline information in regard to the property, land use, waterbodies, wetlands, riparian vegetation, flora and fauna, and nutrient management. The survey will be carried out on the phone by locals who are familiar with the catchment and with farming. 

2. Working with wetland experts from National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) to provide a catchment overview that will help identify areas of focus 
   This task includes looking at restoration of existing wetlands, establishment of new strategically located small to medium scale wetlands or mitigations and small-scale wetlands or edge-of-field mitigations dealing with tile drains and paddock sediments.  

3. A Between the Domes catchment booklet that will provide a coherent overview on the catchment and its features in relation to land and water. 
   This booklet will provide people living and working in the catchment with a point of reference to lift their understanding of the catchment and to serve as a baseline status report for the community. 

Project Outcomes:

• The booklet that was produced and the survey results provide a baseline for the community to benchmark against over time.

• The survey helped engage with a large number of landholders in the catchment with a total of 71 respondents.

• The wetland workstream has helped upskill not only the project farmers who had designs done but also the wider catchment group with wetland field days and planting days, plus ongoing following of these projects.

• The group are hoping to be able to share some of their findings on an information board in the Lumsden township to further the engagement in the project.