‘Awesome’ Day Enhancing Mudfish Habitat
It was all hands on spades as tamariki from View Hill School and helpers planted 350 native seedlings in an effort to enhance an endangered Canterbury mudfish/kwaro habitat.
A planting day was held at Kowhai Farm recently, and I joined owner Chris Thomas, 64 children, teachers, parent helpers, the Working Waters Trust, Silverstream Reserve Volunteers and Wendy Main from the Waimakariri Water Zone Committee.
Canterbury mudfish are classified by the Department of Conservation as the second most endangered native fish in New Zealand and in 2020, kwaro were found living in the creek running through Chris’s farm.
Kwaro live in wetlands and slow-moving waterways and when streams dry out, they can burrow into damp mud and survive for several months until water returns. Since European settlement, a lot of their habitat has been drained.
Chris was keen to see the area enhanced, and a partnership was formed with the Working Waters Trust and View Hill School to carry out a restoration project for the endangered fish.
A highlight of the day was that we all got to see the local kwaro in their natural habitat, reinforcing the significance of the work we were doing.
The property owners worked closely with the Working Waters Trust to develop a plan for their project, who are a charitable organisation focusing on biodiversity restoration projects in Canterbury, Otago and Southland, as well as educational and advocacy.
It was so great to see everyone working together to create what will be in a few years, an amazing habitat again for these precious Canterbury kwaro. It was an awesome day.
Environment Canterbury’s Immediate Steps Biodiversity Fund supported the cost of the native plants, project coordination and education with the school and landowners. The plants were eco-sourced from Wai-Ora nursery who provided an extra 50 plants towards the project. The Thaitara Trust loaned planting spades and they have created nodes for kwaro translocated from the View Hill area to try to increase their numbers.
