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Kia ora and welcome to our August issue!
Spring has sprung, and there are enough blossoms about to make us feel bouncy. This month, are our climate actions to your satisfaction? And is it a bird, a plane, or a kayak on a rope? Read on …
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We recently installed an air quality station at Frankton, the latest addition to our region-wide monitoring network.
Our air monitoring stations across Otago measure the amount of microscopic combustion-related particles in the air (think particles from wood burning, vehicles and industrial operations as examples). We are now able to monitor these particles in the Frankton area.
To learn more about particulate matter (PM) and find out the quality of the air in certain parts of Otago, head over to LAWA.
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Friends of Burns Reserve Trust volunteers at a recent clearing day — gloves, secateurs and a good level of fitness are required, as well as dressing for all weather!
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Love steep slopes, harbour views, hard work and repopulating native vegetation?
The Friends of Burns Reserve Trust have been getting stuck in clearing exotic vegetation from Gerry’s Rock in Burns Park Scenic Reserve above Otago Harbour, and they’re making impressive progress. The trust has signed a five-year community agreement with the Department of Conservation to carry out work on the 87 ha reserve, which will allow the native bush to regenerate when the exotics are removed, with a little planting where needed. More workdays will be scheduled soon.
Are your calves aching to get involved? Join their Facebook group to get updates.
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Why is bomarea a pest?
Bomarea can smother and eventually destroy your favourite plants in your garden or establish in forest interiors, strangling saplings and low-growing species.
This pest sports long, thin, pointed, pale green leaves with red-orange trumpet-shaped flowers in drooping clusters. The fruit is a capsule that ripens and splits to reveal bright orange/red fleshy seeds that are dispersed by birds.
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If you think you’ve spotted bomarea on your property, visit our Pest Hub for information on how to manage this pest plant.
If you need help identifying one of the plant pests on our Pest Hub, email biosecurity@orc.govt.nz with a few clear photos of the plant.
Let's work together to eliminate this pest plant once and for all!
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A gift that will keep giving
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Bonnie from Southern Lakes Sanctuary helps Shotover School students identify tracks from trakka tunnels (used to record the presence of animals and insects) at Shotover Wetland
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This month, Enviroschools Regional Coordinator Lead Leisa de Klerk and Enviroschools Facilitator Nicky Gray spent some time with Shotover School looking at their wetland project.
Shotover School opened in 2015 and is located beside the Shotover River, and flooding has been identified as a potential problem for the area. With the help of Whakatipu Reforestation Trust and Grant Stalker who owned the land, the school has started a wetlands restoration project.
Through school planting days and community support, this project is so successful that at least 600 plants are planted each year by students, and the land has now been gifted to Queenstown Lakes District Council for future public use.
The school has grown an education programme called ‘Educate for Nature’, which is a hands-on learning programme about native plants that each child experiences as they progress through the school. The students measure the growth of the trees and, with the support of ORC, water quality and invertebrate life is now being measured too.
Want to get in touch? Contact Leisa.deKlerk@orc.govt.nz
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I is for … inversion layer
What is it?
An inversion occurs in the atmosphere when the temperature gradient is flipped. Normally, the higher you go, the cooler the air gets. But during an inversion, the air near the ground is cool, and the warm layer of air on top of that is called an inversion layer.
How do inversion layers happen?
Inversion layers usually form in the evening when the ground cools down quickly after the sun sets, causing the air above to also rapidly cool. In mountainous places, cold air can rush down the hills and collect in the basins and valleys. Usually, inversions are broken the next day when the sun warms the ground again.
Are inversion layers bad?
An inversion layer by itself isn’t pollution, but it can trap pollution within it / cause pollution to build up.
The cooler air below the inversion layer can’t mix with the warmer air above, as would normally occur. Any pollution emitted into this cold layer — such as smoke from chimneys, smouldering outdoor fires and car exhausts — will get trapped in it, especially on days with no wind. This trapped pollution makes the air unhealthy to breathe, especially for people with asthma or other breathing issues.
So, while inversion layers are natural, they can make pollution worse by keeping it close to the ground where we live and breathe.
To learn more about the importance of good air quality, head over to LAWA.
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Inversion layer, Alexandra
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Rabbits in the spotlight as partnerships increase
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Earlier this month, annual reports to Council on biodiversity and biosecurity operations around Otago revealed increased engagement and a steady boost to projects underway with a strong increase in biodiversity partnership activities and projects — from six to 12 in three years.
The highlight of the year has been engagement with landowners, the community, Crown agencies and territorial authorities. There were a total 53 engagements with key Crown agencies and territorial authorities around various aspects of pest management, including MPI, DOC, LINZ, KiwiRail, NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi and Waitaki, Dunedin, Clutha, Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes councils.
During the past year, mild weather conditions have favoured rabbit populations and numerous hotspots have emerged, from coastal to Central Otago. In the 2023–24 year, there were 659 rabbit inspections across Otago — 192 in community rabbit programme areas and 467 in areas outside community programmes.
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Is it a bird? A plane? A kayak dangling from a helicopter?
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Heli-gauging on the Taieri River at Outram
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Welcome to the wonderful world of heli-gauging!
Heli-gauging is one of the tools we use to ensure the rated flows of our flood monitoring network are calibrated and accurate. It gives us important flow data so we can better understand the flood hazard characteristics.
Heli-gauging is done by using a helicopter to tow a purpose-built kayak across a river with an acoustic water depth and water velocity measuring device. It’s the most accurate way to calibrate our flood network in high-flow flood events in bigger rivers such as the Taieri, Clutha, and Kakanui. It also gives us the ability to get everywhere we need to be when road flooding makes access impossible.
Heli-gauging is a safe task, but only with careful planning and competent operators. That’s why a training exercise for ORC environmental monitoring staff and Helicopters Otago Pilots and ground staff was important.
The amazing work from our local Helicopters Otago pilots helps ensure a more flood-resilient region amid climate change.
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As part of our Nature-based Solutions Study, we are carrying out a feasibility study investigating the practical viability of nature-based solutions within the Te Hakapupu | Pleasant River Catchment and whether they could contribute to flood mitigation.
A hydrology assessment and hydraulic flood modelling has been conducted, looking at how the current catchment will likely respond during an extreme rainfall event — in this case, a one-in-100-year rainfall event with the added effect of climate change.
Next step: creating modelling looking at the same event if nature-based solutions were in place.
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The depth model above, in blue, illustrates the simulated depth of flood waters during an extreme rainfall event (one in 100 years), with flood depths ranging from 0 and 5 m, to show where surface flooding is expected to occur.
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The velocity model illustrates the flow speed of flood waters during a one-in-100-year flood event, with flow speeds between 0 and 5.6 m/s, to show where floodwater is pooling and where it is swiftly moving.
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What are Nature-based Solutions?
Known globally as Nature-based Solutions (NbS), these are practical ways to use nature's own processes to solve challenges.
Rather than engineering or built structures, natural solutions rely on green infrastructure — such as wetlands — to soak up floodwater and filter pollutants from stormwater runoff, and native planting to prevent erosion, improve air quality and increase biodiversity.
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Maintaining the Gains in coastal Dunedin
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Maintaining the Gains is a $1 million Jobs for Nature project funded through Department of Conservation. It is a collaborative project between ORC, QEII Trust and Aukaha to help Otago make real progress in controlling pest plants across the region.
Sixteen QEII covenants were originally targeted for weed control to improve and protect biodiversity. To date, Aukaha’s ‘weed team’ of four has completed weed control on 21 covenants, with eight more planned for work.
QEII covenants protect ecological and cultural values on private land from future development or land use. A QEII covenant is part of the property title, giving long-term protection. Sometimes, these values are threatened by invasive pest plants — and this is where the weed team from Aukaha comes in!
Landowners are really pleased for the help, identifying that this burst of work will assist them in keeping on top of the work protecting and enhancing biodiversity within their covenant area.
This project, which began in December 2021, has targeted around 1000 hectares of QEII-covenanted land for pest plant control over three years and closes 31 March 2025.
Read a story about a day in the life of maintaining the gains by Tamara Dick, field worker for the project.
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A dead banana passionfruit, one of the troublesome weeds for Otago Peninsula
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What’s your vision for a climate-resilient Otago?
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We have a vision for a low-emissions Otago that is resilient to the impacts of climate change, and so we’re developing a 10-year Strategic Climate Action Plan to align council’s work programmes. Before that, we want to know if this vision aligns with your own.
Has an awareness of the changing climate made a difference to your choices when it comes to travel, transport, purchase decisions, food shopping and where you want to live?
ORC’s work plan already includes actions to mitigate greenhouse gases and help our communities adapt to climate change, but are we doing enough? Could we be doing more? Which areas do you think we should focus on?
We want to hear your climate action priorities and what you think about the draft plan. You can do this by reading the draft plan then completing the survey online or in hard copy (you can request a hard copy by phoning 0800 474 082). Your responses will guide the creation of the plan and the work we do to implement it.
The survey will run a little longer than normal, until 6 October, to allow more time for farmers experiencing lambing season.
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The consultation period for ORC’s representation review has been extended.
People weren’t asked for contact details on the original survey, and we’re required to ask for this information — we apologise for this error and any inconvenience it might cause. The submissions made so far are still valid; however, everyone who has submitted is encouraged to submit again. People now have until 11.59pm on Sunday, 8 September, to share their views on the proposed change to the number of councillors for Dunstan and Dunedin.
Give your feedback.
You can also send an email to governance@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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