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Kia ora and welcome to our May issue!
Autumn is the season that proves nature has the best crayons. This month we’ve got some amazing technology, some cool biology, and we might have found the oldest galaxiid in Otago.
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Galaxiids are a rare native fish species belonging to an ancient (from the time of the dinosaurs), scaleless fish family called Galaxiidae — for the galaxy-like gold flecks and patterns on their backs.
Unlike whitebait, which migrate to sea, some non-migratory galaxiid species live out their entire lives in the stream or river in which they hatched. Over millennia, these populations have been isolated by geological events such as earthquakes and glacial movement and evolved into distinct species, each with their own individual features and stories.
So, it’s pretty cool that ORC’s Pete Ravenscroft thinks he might have discovered the oldest galaxiid in Otago — a dusky galaxias who resides in Burnt Creek, in the Waipori catchment. After first discovering and tagging her in 2004, he went back this week to see whether she was still in the same pool under the same rock, and she was!
Officially known as ‘Green Tag V93’, we’re calling her Gladys. Gladys is 28 years old and 157 mm long with beautiful brown spots.
Finding Gladys presents a rare opportunity, as we don’t know how long they normally live for and, at 157 mm, she’s the longest dusky galaxias ever recorded.
Why has she been able to live so long?
This dusky galaxias population is restricted to the upper Burnt Creek catchment, which is protected by several large downstream waterfalls.
Does the environment in this area contribute to her good health?
Yes, Burnt Creek catchment lies in the tussock-covered Lammerlaw/Lammermoor ranges, the water colour is tannin stained, and has a schist bed — it has good, vegetated bank margins with good water quality — particularly, no sediment.
What’s better than a long-lived galaxiid?
Two! While Pete was at Burnt Creek reintroducing himself to Gladys, he found another dusky galaxias — this time with a Red Tag 36E. Tagged in 2009 when she was 65 mm, she’s now 86 mm and over 17 years old.
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Burnt Creek, home to the dinosaur fish
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Pete returns Gladys to the creek
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‘Red tag 36E’ being measured
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Back in numbers, native birds like Pīwakawaka.
Photo: Susan Cleaver
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Since the arrival of the first humans in the Whakatipu Basin, much of the natural flora has been wiped out by fire, land clearing, grazing and development.
The loss of native flora, combined with the introduction of predators (rats, mustelids and possums), caused bird, lizard and invertebrate numbers to plummet, with many now threatened with extinction.
The Whakatipu Wildlife Trust (WWT) is working hard to reverse that trend, removing predators from the environment and creating habitats where native flora and fauna can survive and thrive.
Established in 2017, WWT unites 12 existing trapping groups — working together results in gains through efficiency, education, shared knowledge and cooperation. They now have 81 traplines and 617 volunteers, and they trained 112 new volunteers in 2023. With a total of 4,623 traps, in 2023 WWT trapped 9,323 predators.
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Volunteer Heidi Ross checking a DOC 200 trap.
Photo: Sheila Chapman
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There’s anecdotal evidence of increasing populations of native birds such as tui and bellbirds in the Queenstown suburbs. New populations of grebe have expanded into Glenorchy, Bob’s Cove to Seven Mile Creek, Moke Lake, the upper Kawarau River, Halfway Bay and Kingston.
For more information: www.whakatipuwildlifetrust.org.nz
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Australasian Grebe.
Photo: Phil Cutland Green
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Introducing Leisa de Klerk, our new Enviroschools Regional Coordinator
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Tēnā koutou katoa,
Ko Awherika ki te Tonga te whakapaparaka mai. Ko Ōtepoti te kāika, nō Waihōpai au, kei Waikouaiti au e noho ana. He Regional Coordinator Lead au i Enviroschools ki Otago Regional Council. Ko Leisa de Klerk toku ikoa, tēnā koutou katoa.
My name is Leisa de Klerk and I am the new Regional Coordinator Lead for Enviroschools in Ōtākou. I’ve lived in Ōtepoti most of my life with family all over the region but have also lived in India and Korea.
While a qualified secondary school teacher, it was Peace and Conflict studies at the University of Otago that brought me into the for-impact, not-for-profit sector where I have worked for the last decade. I have a passion for diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility and can usually be found at one of the various multicultural events that frequently happen around the city. I’m also very passionate about creating better environmental systems that protect papatūānuku and our planet through all aspects of our lives.
I’m looking forward to supporting the Enviroschools team and Otago schools in their commitment towards a long-term sustainability journey through learning and taking action and having the Enviroschools kaupapa a part of our long-term future.
Leisa.deKlerk@orc.govt.nz
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Over 400 public submissions on our Long-Term Plan
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Major themes of public submissions included concern about rates rising, and both support and opposition to investing in public transport in Dunedin and Queenstown.
What people said
People asked for more frequent and reliable buses, extended service hours and expanded routes to under-served areas such as Outram and Dunedin airport.
People felt investment was needed in Queenstown’s public transport systems due to traffic congestion, to reduce emissions and to extend service hours. They also wanted public transport to support local activities, such as swim clubs.
Money for the environment
A new environmental fund put forward because government funding for projects to protect the environment is coming to an end received broad support.
What happens now?
Public hearings for 53 submitters took place on 20 and 21 May in Queenstown and Dunedin. After the council has considered all submissions, it will meet to make final decisions about the consulted proposals on 29 and 30 May. The final Long-Term Plan will then be prepared for Council adoption on 26 June. Implementation of the Plan begins 1 July 2024.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to get involved.
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One of our jobs is monitoring air quality.
This is done through air monitoring sites located in Arrowtown (pictured above), Alexandra, Clyde, Cromwell, Dunedin, Milton and Mosgiel. The stations measure the amount of microscopic combustion-related particles in the air, such as particles from wood burning.
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They breathe what YOU burn
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Our annual ‘Burn Dry, Breathe Easy’ campaign highlights ways to ensure your firewood is dry for burning in winter, and the effects that burning wet wood and other items can have on the environment.
We encourage people to consider the health of others when using wood burners. Woodsmoke pollution can be reduced when we burn only dry wood and keep fires hot and not smouldering.
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The number of people catching our buses in Dunedin and Queenstown is on the rise.
In the nine months from July 2023 to March 2024, the number of bus trips taken in the two areas hit a six-year high, showing bus use has recovered well from recent Covid and driver shortage disruptions.
During this period, over 1.4 million bus trips were taken in Queenstown and over 2.5 million in Dunedin. Queenstown hit a record number of over 168,000 trips per month in January, February and March this year.
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I is for … inversion layer.
A layer of the atmosphere where the temperature stops decreasing with elevation and instead becomes warmer. This layer unfortunately traps air pollution underneath it over densely populated areas, causing smog.
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A visible inversion layer over Alexandra from outdoor burning, 2023
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Why is spiny broom a pest?
Spiny broom is an invasive plant that can quickly take over farmland or disrupt indigenous ecosystems. A spiny shrub with a lot of branches that grows up to 3 m tall, it has ridged stems, sharp spines and dark or grey-green leaves. It also has bright yellow flowers followed by flattened seedpods.
If you think you have spotted spiny broom, please call us on 0800 474 082 or email biosecurity@orc.govt.nz.
Visit our Pest Hub for more information about spiny broom, and let's eliminate this pest plant once and for all!
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A drone sprays a wilding. Inset: the drone in flight.
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We are already utilising drone technology to support pollution response and compliance inspections, but did you know these flying robots are also fighting wilding conifers?
Our partners, the Central Otago Wilding Conifer Control Group (CWG), are currently undertaking a trial with contractor SPS Automation using a drone to survey for wilding conifers using Artificial Intelligence on a 470 hectare block. After that, a larger drone goes in and sprays the trees based on the survey drone's data. We’re hoping this trial will allow the tech to progress to where we can use it on much larger landscape areas. Terminator, tree edition!
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Plant prefers the life aquatic
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(L-R): NIWA researchers Svenja David and Louis Olsen and ORC’s Scientist — Lakes, Hugo Borges, survey Lake Whakatipu for deepwater bryophytes.
Photo: NIWA
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Otago Regional Council recently commissioned NIWA to undertake a submerged plant survey in Lakes Whakatipu, Wānaka, and Hāwea, searching for a ‘freshwater freak of nature’ — the deep-water bryophyte, in Otago’s high-country lakes.
ORC’s Scientist — Lakes, Hugo Borges, says the survey was a success, with more work planned later in the year.
“Despite being simple organisms, deep-water bryophytes play a vital role in ecosystem functioning by providing habitats, improving water quality, and aiding biodiversity. They are highly sensitive gauges of water transparency, light transmission, sedimentation rates, temperature fluctuations, and changes in dissolved gases — all of which give us clues into the health of our freshwater environments,” says Mr Borges.
First discovered by NIWA divers in Otago’s lakes in the 1980s, bryophytes are a globally rare plant, with New Zealand being one of the few places worldwide to support blankets of these species.
Bryophytes are usually found in moist environments like damp forest floors and shady rockfaces, so 50 m down in Lakes Whakatipu and Wānaka is a really unusual place for them to grow, but we think they were washed into the lakes eons ago and have found a niche in the quiet twilight depths. If it wasn’t for the extreme transparency of our lake water, this ‘freak of nature’ might not have survived.
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Creature feature — freshwater mussels
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Kākahi / freshwater mussels.
Photo: NIWA
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Kākahi / freshwater mussels were once widespread in Aotearoa New Zealand. Growing up to 11 cm long, they are an indicator of a healthy stream. Kākahi are an important food source for tangata whenua and seen as particularly beneficial for the sick. Shells can also be used as cutting tools or decoration.
These amazing creatures are able to clean 1 L of water an hour through filtration. Unfortunately, high sediments clog their gills — meaning they are under threat or declining across the country due to habitat degradation caused by pollution and sediment changes.
Another factor in their decline is that, like most of us as teenagers, they are parasitic during the larval stage, living in the gills of kōaro (adult whitebait) till they drop off to live in soft sediments. Sadly, populations of this host fish are declining.
All is not lost, thank goodness — there are some places in Otago where freshwater mussels are holding on in areas of nicer water quality or lower sediment.
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Tomahawk Lagoon stormwater community day
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Community members and ORC staff enjoying a great day at Tomohaka / Tomahawk Lagoon
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Over 100 people joined us at Tomohaka / Tomahawk Lagoon for our first-ever stormwater community day.
Using maps, posters and interactive displays, we showed what our stormwater systems look like, how and where stormwater’s being transported to, and how it can affect the local environment.
We shared tips on car washing, gardening, and DIY projects to ensure we treat our gutters and drains like streams — and to ONLY drain rain! People of all ages got hands-on with invertebrates and touch tanks and learned more about the Enviroschools Otago programmes.
Big thanks to ECOTAGO, the Aquavan from the University of Otago, and Dunedin City Council. Together we’re building connections, raising awareness and exploring how stormwater impacts our biodiversity.
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Support and resources for dam owners amid regulation changes
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The Government has this month made changes to height and capacity thresholds for Otago dams requiring classification — new regulations which will affect 98 Otago dams and require further investigation of 34 others.
Under the new regulations, dams need to be classified if they are 4 metres or more in height and store 20,000 or more cubic metres of water or other fluid. Dams which are 1 metre or more in height and store 40,000 or more cubic metres of water no longer need to be classified and are not covered by the regulations.
We’re offering support and resources to dam owners to help them navigate these changes.
Want to know more? Email damsafety@orc.govt.nz
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Find out about upcoming community events and Council meetings here.
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Feel free to forward this email to anyone who might like to read it. If you have any story ideas or want to know anything specific about anything in this issue, let us know by emailing lisa.scott@orc.govt.nz.
If you have been forwarded this email, you can sign up here.
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