Mucking in to safeguard mudfish

Colebrook said he was in a good position to be able to create a valuable wetland.

By day he digs up areas for drainage and irrigation projects; but when he goes home to his North Canterbury farm, Kent Colebrook creates a wetland for threatened mudfish.

Colebrook recently bought a 25 hectare farm in the Oxford foothills, following the receivership of the former owner Althea MacLean.

In one boggy section of the property a 3 ha spot is home to hundreds of the enigmatic Canterbury mudfish, listed as a ‘‘nationally critical’’ species.

Sophie Allen of the Working Waters Trust rates the wetland as the second best she has seen in Canterbury for mudfish abundance. ‘‘It’s great Kent is keen to carry on the work to safeguard the mudfish that was being done before he took over.’’

Colebrook knew little about the mudfish before he bought the farm, except that MacLean, Forest and Bird and the Working Waters Trust had put in extensive work to recreate a wetland for the resident native. Lying buried in the mud for up to five months at a time, the mudfish does the fishy equivalent of hibernating once conditions become too dry.

But in this state of aestivation it is not completely dormant because the moment it is returned to water the mudfish swims away.

Using a grant from Environment Canterbury, the wet centre of the farm was fenced and volunteers including local school children have planted hundreds of plants along the waterway. Breeding ponds have been dug and the wet areas have been extended.

Colebrook said he was in a good position to be able to create a valuable wetland. ‘‘The advantage of me owning it is I’ve got all the gear, the resources and know-how to make this habitat become an area which people can enjoy.’’

‘‘I’m willing to put my best foot forward to make it better for them, and not just that but to landscape it so it’s not just a long grassy, wet muddy paddock, but something you can open up so the school children can come out and have an educational day.’’

From Waikato originally, where his parents and two brothers are dairy farmers, Colebrook came south to work on the Christchurch rebuild. His contracting firm has also been helping out on the Central Plains irrigation scheme. The former owner had run dairy cows producing A2 milk for Synlait, but Colebrook is fattening about 50 beef cattle instead.

He sympathises with farmers who do not always receive the credit for the positive things they do. ‘‘I think farmers take a massive hit but I’ve seen more environmental damage underground with sewer mains and stuff like that in town than what farmers are doing.’’

Allen backs him up, observing that a number of farmers she meets are keen amateur ecologists who take delight in the natural processes occurring on their land. from Ashburton runs a rural and farm advisory business and is a director of AgResearch and Ngai Tahu Farming and a councillor of Lincoln University.

Ian Farrelly, Leonie Guiney and David MacLeod retired from office following the end of the Fonterra annual meeting last Thursday.

An independent panel which was set up after a review last year recommended the three successful candidates.

Guiney had sought a further term but her nomination was blocked, leading to accusations that the Fonterra board lacked gender diversity, with just two female directors out of 11.

A candidate can also be selfnominated for election, with the support of 51 farmer-shareholders, but this year no shareholders chose to go through the selfnomination process.

Shareholders Glenn Holmes and John Gregan were elected unopposed to the directors’ remuneration committee.