What we’re up to

Here's South Island Manager, Nicki talking about physiographics with Our Land and Water. Physiographics is mapping the pathways water takes over land and through the ground in a catchment, it also allows us to see what happens during different levels of rainfall. This will give farmers in the area an idea of where they can best use resources to manage contaminants leaving farms and improve water quality. Watch 👇 https://vimeo.com/317140897

The Okarika pocket has two wetlands that are by far the largest remaining in the Hikurangi Flood Plain. Both contain unique habitat types now rare in Northland, are surrounded by dairy farms and have been modified by drainage. This makes it the ideal place to observe and measure changes in water quality resulting from freshwater biodiversity improvement projects and changes to farm management practices. Keep up to date with what we're doing in the area. https://www.livingwater.net.nz/catchment/wairua-river/okarika-pocket-transformation

What does electric fishing look like from above? This! Some of our team have been down at Waituna Creek with Cawthron Institute to do our first fish survey since part one of the restoration project (read http://bit.ly/waitunacreekrestoration) The full video is coming soon so stay tuned...

Fonterra and the Department of Conservation working together on the ground through Living Water – we caught Fonterra Sustainable Dairying Advisor Cain out fishing for Giant Kokopu with Department of Conservation Senior Ranger/Supervisor Jane (behind the 📸). They are checking farm waterways and drains for these special native fish before we install instream structures as part of a trial to slow water flows and reduce nutrients and sediment reaching Waituna Lagoon. Read more about the trial here: https://www.livingwater.net.nz/catchment/waituna-lagoon/reducing-contaminants-using-peak-run-off

A standard footwear for many of our Living Water team and partners but we are extra happy to pull on the gumboots today to show our support on Gumboot Friday and raising money to provide free and counselling for kids in need ❤️ #GUMBOOTUPNZ DONATE: https://www.facebook.com/NZMikeKing/posts/10157248059277990

Reza-Abdul and his wife Sylvia are a part of our Waituna catchment with Waituna Creek running through their farm. Reza-Abdul is also a respected spiritual and community leader in New Zealand's Muslim community, listen to his story, he speaks of the time he has spent in Christchurch supporting the injured and the families of victims in the weeks following the terrorist attack but during this trying time he was offered a lot of support from his community. https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/countrylife/audio/2018688779/farming-and-faith-southland-dairy-farmer-and-spiritual-leader-reza-abdul-jabbar

Our Northland team has been out doing their annual Tuna survey with Ngā Kaitiaki O Ngā Wai Māori, Northland Regional Council and NIWA New Zealand, over four years we are monitoring the numbers of tuna to see how they are surviving after being moved Omiru Falls. The Tuna are caught, quickly have their health assessed then are returned to the stream. We want to use the knowledge gained from this project to increase tuna populations in the area.

Last week our steering committee and valued partners got the chance to head out to one of our Northland sites to check out our sediment detention dam project. They look pretty happy with what they've seen 😃

Painting three large murals to highlight and celebrate precious wetland birds in the Ohaupo area - an idea Living Water could get behind! A kingfisher, bittern and spotless crake now adorn a bus shelter each along Ohaupo's main street, painted by local artist Jeremy Shirley with funding from Department of Conservation and Fonterra's Living Water Partnership. This is a small part of a big story about the town adopting the Waikato Peat Lakes as their own. Read more 👇 https://www.livingwater.net.nz/im:1606/

Wairua River, Northland flows into the Kaipara Harbour, a significant nursery for juvenile fish and sharks. There has been a significant loss of wetland and freshwater ecosystems. Water quality is poor due to high levels of suspended sediment. Living Water’s key focus is on reducing sediment loads into the Wairua River by using solutions that improve hydrologic functioning and ecological resilience of the catchment. Read more about what we're doing in Wairua here https://www.livingwater.net.nz/catchment/wairua-river/

A question we often get asked is "why were these five catchments chosen?" 💦 Each catchment presents a variety of challenging situations providing breadth and depth when it comes to scoping solutions for New Zealand-wide application. 💦 Each of the five catchments is in a significant dairying region and has ecological and cultural significance Stay tuned over the next 5 weeks where we will discuss each of the five catchments.

Is hydro-seeding a viable option for retired land? Retired land can often be in steep, hard to reach areas next to wetlands meaning it's hard to get there to plant and to maintain. At our Waikato peat lakes, we are trialling hydro seeding on retired land, near the lakes. If successful it could be rolled out regionally and/or nationally, significantly accelerating riparian restoration efforts on and off farm. 🌿 Read about it here 👇 https://www.livingwater.net.nz/catchment/lakes-areare-ruatuna-rotomanuka/hydro-seeding-trial/

Have you seen a giant Kokopu? They are the largest galaxiid, named for their golden speckles which early explorers thought looked like a galaxy ✨ They are found over most of New Zealand and tend to live in habitat that is nice and dark and cool with lots of vegetation 🌿 They usually grow to around 20-30cm but their have been some recorded as large as 45cm! Hands up if you've seen one 🙋‍♀️

Today is International Women in Science Day 👩‍⚕️ We are fortunate to have a number of awesome wahine working on the Living Water project, one of which is Dr Catherine Febria of CAREX. She is part of a team of scientists at the University of Canterbury that are trying out solutions to improve waterways. Living Water has supporting CAREX’s work in Silverstream, a tributary of the Selwyn River. We caught up with her on what makes her tick: doing science in the real world. https://www.livingwater.net.nz/…/scientists-working-with-l…/

Today is International Women in Science Day 👩‍⚕️ We are fortunate to have a number of awesome wahine working on the Living Water project, one of which is Dr Catherine Febria of CAREX. She is part of a team of scientists at the University of Canterbury that are trying out solutions to improve waterways. Living Water has supporting CAREX’s work in Silverstream, a tributary of the Selwyn River. We caught up with her on what makes her tick: doing science in the real world. https://www.livingwater.net.nz/…/scientists-working-with-l…/

Our Northern Site Lead, Andrew, spent the weekend at Ngati Hau Festival, telling the community about the Work Living Water has been doing in the area. We heard the chocolate Kokopu went down a treat 😅 You can find out what we've been up to in the Wairua catchment 👇 https://www.livingwater.net.nz/catchment/wairua-river/