Wetlands and Streams
Find out more about Southland’s wetlands and the special plant communities found within them.
PROVIDER
Southland Community Nursery
Wetlands
Protecting, restoring and creating wetlands on-farm can reduce nutrient losses, decrease the impact of floods and provide a valuable habitat for native plants and animals.
PROVIDER
DairyNZ
Making the most of wet areas on farm
A guide to constructed wetlands
Wetlands play an important role in improving water quality by capturing sediment and assimilating nutrients before the water flows into rivers, lakes and estuaries. They also help with water quantity by storing water to reduce flooding and maintain summer flows and soil moisture.
PROVIDER
Environment Southland
A guide to sediment trap construction
New Zealand has a significant erosion challenge, with more than 200 million tonnes of soil lost from the land to the sea each year. We can reduce soil loss with careful land management and by installing sediment traps temporarily when soil materials are vulnerable to erosion from activities like earth works, cultivation or when stock is on a winter crop.
PROVIDER
Environment Southland
A guide to the benefits of natural wetlands
Natural wetlands have not typically been valued for the farm system, despite the benefits to water quality and biodiversity they can provide.
PROVIDER
Environment Southland
Wetlands
Fish and Game New Zealand along with the Royal Forest and Bird Society, the National Wetlands Trust and the Department of Conservation have been fighting hard to protect the remaining wetlands and establish new ones. This website section has useful information on the biological value of wetlands and how to establish them. You can also download these pamphlets:
PROVIDER
Fish and Game New Zealand
Wetland Restoration. A handbook for New Zealand freshwater systems
Wetland Restoration: A Handbook for New Zealand Freshwater Systems brings together expertise from specialists and groups actively engaged in restoring wetlands throughout the country.
PROVIDER
Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research
Wetlands homepage
Explanation of what a wetland is and hand books for restoring/creating wetlands
PROVIDER
NZ Landcare Trust
Wetlands homepage
Explanation of what a wetland is and hand books for restoring/creating wetlands
PROVIDER
NZ Landcare Trust
Wetlands protection under QEII trust
Learn about wetlands and their benefits to your property and the environment and how to protect them.
PROVIDER
QEII
Natural seepage wetlands and nitrogen losses
They may be generally disliked by farmers and thought of as troublesome ‘bogs’, but seepage wetlands have proven highly effective at preventing contaminants from reaching waterways. These so-called ‘kidneys of the land’ could serve as one useful tool in the dairy sector’s efforts to reduce nitrate leaching.
PROVIDER
DairyNZ