Conservation minister launches wetland project in South Wairarapa

Friday, 3 May 2019

Wairarapa's wetlands are a shadow of their former glory, but a new project promises to return some of the moana to its natural state.

Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage visited the Pou Aruhe Saltmarsh Freshwater Initiative near Lake Onoke on Friday and helped put the first plants in the ground.

She said it was great to be part of recreating some of the area's natural ecology.

Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage planting at the new Pou Aruhe Saltmarsh Freshwater initiative near Lake Okoke in South Wairarapa.

'New Zealand has lost 90 per cent of its wetlands. It's really exciting to be here in South Wairarapa and see a wetland restoration project happening.'

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Planting began in the Pou Aruhe Saltmarsh Freshwater initiative near Lake Okoke on Friday.

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A stopbank bordering an 18ha plot of land belonging to the Department of Conservation would soon be breached to allow water to flow into the area which is now being used for cattle grazing.

'This is a very ambitious project over about a century with Greater Wellington Regional Council, mana whenua and local conservation groups all working to restore the wetland margins of the lake,' Sage said.

The lower part of Wairarapa valley was transformed in the 1960s and 70s with a large-scale infrastructure project designed to create more farmland by diverting waterways and draining low lying areas.

While it increased agricultural production, the project had a devastating impact on rich natural wetland habitats, which were particularly important to local iwi for gathering kai moana.

Appropriately, the wetland was one of many Crown-owned areas around Lake Wairarapa, known as Wairarapa Moana, soon to be handed back to iwi as part of a treaty settlement.

Rawiri Smith of Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa said Māori bring important values to these projects which could connect the whole region.

'Today we planted kahikatea, and kahikatea have a root system that holds on to each other, but also feed each other, and that kind of combined effort, this joined up planting and joined up thinking in terms of the plants is the same thing Māori want with our community.'

'What can the environment and ecosystem health give all New Zealanders and how can they see that as an asset? That's what iwi want to bring to the programme - what an asset our land is,' Smith said.

The plants used for this and other local projects were grown by inmates of Rimutaka Prison and were eco-sourced for the area.