Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Moawhitu Restoration Project - where the past helps informs the future
Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua. I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on my past.
Looking back in time to better plan ahead is the key philosophy behind the Moawhitu Restoration Project.
The project’s mantra - He reo nō te puehu - A voice from the dust - hails the need to understand the past in an effort to rejuvenate Lake Moawhitu near Greville Harbour on Rangitoto ki te Tonga/d’Urville Island.
The partnership project began in 2017 and aims to improve the lake’s water quality and habitat through the restoration of catchment vegetation, in-lake habitat enhancement and restoration of connected wetlands.
It is led by Ngāti Koata and supported by the MFE Freshwater Improvement Fund which also involves Council, DOC and private sponsors. Project manager Dan Moore and Ngāti Koata’s Tehau Kaonohi briefed Council’s Environment and Planning Committee on the project’s progress recently.
Council’s Team Leader Land and Water Peter Hamill said the Moawhitu project was a successful restoration project in what was one of the largest wetland/ lake areas in Marlborough, and a place of huge significance to Ngāti Koata for traditional tuna (eel) gathering.
“The lake has an ongoing problem with algal blooms due to the internal cycling and release of nutrients from lake bed sediments, and the modification of the surrounding landscape and vegetation has reduced habitat for fish species including tuna.”
“This is a successful collaborative approach with a coordinated effort to restore the wetland ecosystem and improve water quality,” Peter said.
In September 2019 core samples of the lake bed were taken and analysed to reconstruct the lake’s history over the past 1,000 years. “They showed a succession of native vegetation clearance and land use change shortly after Māori arrival which continued through to European settlement, followed by the intensification of pastoral land use and the draining of the lake, which put paid to the wetlands’ margins,” he said.
More than 60,000 trees have been planted since the project’s inception to enhance catchment resilience, increase biodiversity and stop external nutrients from entering the lake. “Our hope is to rejuvenate the water quality so traditional tuna harvesting can start again. This will bring Ngāti Koata back to their rohe,” Dan Moore said.
For a virtual reality experience about this special project created in conjunction with Lakes380 using Lidar data go to: https://lakes380.com/he-reo-no-te-puehu/