Tēnā koutou katoa

World Wetlands Day was celebrated on 2 February to raise global awareness about the importance of wetlands for a healthy planet, how they function as a bond between land and water and significance for Māori. Wetlands enhance water quality through sediment filtration, nutrient cycling, native biodiversity enhancement, erosion control and hydrological buffering. Wetlands reduce the severity of flooding events by absorbing stormwater like a sponge, and holding onto it for forests and wetland plants to absorb slowly over time. Did you know that before colonisation, Auckland was largely made up of these systems? Concrete from cities and roads creates a surface that water cannot penetrate. This means that instead of this water being absorbed and released slowly, it runs off and accumulates quickly on the surface, resulting in dangerous levels of flooding as we have seen recently.

As a part of Te Kōhaka o Tūhaitara Trust’s 200-year plan, we aim to restore and rehabilitate indigenous coastal ecosystem’s diverse habitats, flora and fauna including coastal wetlands. Since European settlement, 90% of New Zealand wetlands, which once covered 10% of New Zealand's land mass, have been lost.

A young shag was found by our rangers recently. The Department of Conservation advised that as the bird was uninjured but at risk of predation by dogs, we should place the bird back into a nearby tree for the parents to find and care for.

Our summer trainee ranger Rose has returned to Nelson to finish her coursework. Mikaela and Zeta will be returning to study to finish off their degrees in environmental science, and Emily will be starting her master’s in biology.

Compass FM is kindly supporting us with an interview notifying the public about our Open Day coming up on Saturday 4 March. Local announcers will talk about our event on the air between 6pm and 6am in the weeks leading up. Bring your whānau and have a blast with educational stalls, bouncy castles, face painting and much more.

If you would like to get involved, keep an eye out for upcoming planting days in future newsletters and via our Facebook page Friends of Tūhaitara Coastal Park.