The ORC’s Environmental Data Portal is experiencing high traffic volumes affecting its effectiveness at present. The site is being worked on at present and people are asked to be patient. Please be considerate in using this tool, some people require access to the EDP for important decision-making today.
Environmental Data PortalThe ORC’s Environmental Data Portal is experiencing high traffic volumes affecting its effectiveness at present. The site is being worked on at present and people are asked to be patient. Please be considerate in using this tool, some people require access to the EDP for important decision-making today.
Otago Regional Council is partnering with Kāti Huirapa Rūnaka ki Puketeraki to restore and enhance the mauri and health of this important East Otago river system. For Kāi Tahu, the river was an important kāika mahika kai (food gathering settlement) where tuna (eels), pātiki (flounders) and īnaka (whitebait) were abundant. Today’s diverse community, whose own history, connection, and livelihood are tied to this catchment, are important collaborators in the success of this project.
Together, there is a journey to create a catchment restoration action plan to inspire us to sustain the awa. The plan aims to enhance the wider ecosystem, improve water quality by reducing the amount of sediment and nutrient input to the rivers and estuary, and use the best of Kāi Tahu mātauraka (knowledge) and modern science to sustain our efforts.
Register your interest in the Toitu Te Hakapupu: The Pleasant River Catchment restoration project.
Help develop a catchment action plan for the Toitū Te Hakapupu Pleasant River catchment. Feedback opened in May 2023, and will remain until the catchment restoration action plan has been finalised (around mid 2025)
Community meetings, planting days, community monitoring and other events.
The catchment restoration action plan will be a living document with long-term goals. Some of the work we have planned to gather information to support decision-making is:
Some work throughout the project will require the services of ORC experts, and some, the hardworking members of the community, including collaborating with the East Otago Catchment Group and local landowners.
Some of the contracts we have in place to complete the project work:
This four-year work programme will focus on improvements to water quality, safe fish passage, and a catchment restoration action plan co-developed with the rūnaka that the community will adopt as its own, but it will also look to better protect biodiversity and natural water resources in the area.
Working side by side with local rūnaka, we want to find appropriate ways to collaborate with community and industry in the catchment identifying work needing to be done while reflecting community aspirations.
This may include:
Over the next year, we will also gather baseline data on the catchment to better understand sediment and nutrient movement, fish habitat and water quality issues. This will help guide activities to improve water quality.
There are many ways you can protect precious waterways.
Planting, controlling pests and weeds or creating habitat will enhance biodiversity and attract more native animals (birds, lizards, and invertebrates) to your area, improving their chances of survival.
Melanie White
Email melanie.white@orc.govt.nz
Tel 027 357 2568
Katharina Ruckstuhl
Email katharina.ruckstuhl@otago.ac.nz
Steph Scott
Email eocatchmentgroup@gmail.com
Tel 027 438 7875
Sign up to the Toitū Te Hakapupu newsletter for updates on the project and read previous updates.
Wai i te reporepo, wai i te wao: what nature tells us about how to understand and prepare for flooding. This Nature-based solutions study will model nature-based methods to find out how they may lessen the effects of flooding and enhance biodiversity. The results will benefit the entire region.
Learn about water quality monitoring, erosion and sediment studies, planting trials and more in Te Hakapupu
Project timeline for Toitū Te Hakapupu: The Pleasant River Catchment Restoration Project.
Funding information around the Toitū Te Hakapupu project and further sources of funding for community-led projects in the area.