New Zealand's clean green image personified in the Strath Taieri ~ photo Southern Light
For the third summer running now in Mt Aspiring National Park, I interact with many tourists intent on being the overseas equivalent of a New Zealand tramper.
Most know our “Clean Green” marketing ploy is not what it seems, and that New Zealand is perceived as just one big farm. To think otherwise ignores the profound “connectedness” the Internet has on the sharing of information world wide.
We’ve got an awful lot of work to do in some areas to live up to the marketing, but really I hope our motivation is otherwise with more of a flavour of health and well-being!
[AdSense-C]
This aside ‘tho it’s kinda weird that politicians are still stuck in a retro ten to twenty year time warp, totally out of touch with our visitors. The inference being also out of touch with our landscape!
At the end of the NZ school year many schools opt to do a final school camp at Aspiring Hut in Mt Aspiring National Park.
Also at the same early summer time, there are always a handful of oversea’s groups of student specifically here in the country to study our unique environment. These students are highly motivated also doing volunteer work for DOC ranging from Nelson to Fiordland
In this post I want to present two views – neither particularly extreme. Lets have the good news first:
Water quality good for summer swimming | Otago Daily Times Online News
Upper reaches of the Taieri River in Central Otago ~ photo Southern Light’s Donald Lousley
Water quality in Otago has been good so far this summer, Otago Regional Council (ORC) seasonal recreational water quality testing shows. Three sites have had alert/amber warnings at certain times since the summer round of testing began at the beginning of
… which reinforces my experience that Regional Councils and associated environmental dept’s, ie Environment Southland, many farmers, and New Zealand’s Dept. of Conservation do an extremely good job not only keeping us safe, but in the facilitation of our summer enjoyment. Much of this work goes unnoticed and unsung!
Healthy rivers also mean healthy habitats for our birds!
This white-faced heron in the lower Cardrona river-bed near Wanaka is an Australian immigrant which began breeding in New Zealand only in the 1940s, none-the-less the lesson is obvious! ~ photo Southern Light’s Donald Lousley
By contrast, and almost on the same day, we have the below opinion on our “Clean Green Image”. After reading it please leave a comment with your views or experiences in your neighbourhood
Dialogue: An environmental crisis second to none – Environment – NZ Herald News
It’s the time of year to get close to nature. Forest & Bird has thoughtfully released a list of 10 places (“New Zealand’s hidden treasures”) where families can do just that. Except that none of the country’s numerous lakes, rivers or streams are named among them.
The Lord of the Rings actor and New Zealand tour guide operator Bruce Hopkins is not surprised, calling our rivers and lakes “gutter holes” and “sewer pipes”. He slams the “clean green” image behind the 100% Pure New Zealand promotion.
Acting Tourism Minister Paula Bennett has defended it, saying: “It’s an award-winning campaign that is working brilliantly for New Zealand with record growth in visitor numbers.”It’s not, and never has been, an environmental measure.”
Hopkins believes “we are leaning towards being deceptive around how we sell ourselves as a tourist destination”.
Rare in New Zealand, with a population of just 100–120 birds, the elegant white heron or kōtuku posed for photographer Donald Lousley last winter at the bottom of the Snow Farm road in the Cardrona Valley.
Kōtuku have a mythical status for Māori because of their rarity and beauty.
A heads up for residents of Wanaka and Albert Town, and all who care about the health of rivers such as the Clutha…
Goldfish believed illegally dumped into Albert Town’s artificial wetlands are breeding and some have found their way into the natural lagoon beside the Clutha River.Now, environmental agencies are concerned the bottom-grazing pest fish may soon invade the already degraded Clutha River, which has been infested by didymo for about 10 years.
Some thoughts on the New Zealand whitebait, sea gulls and the health of our rivers – their habitat…
Last week en-route to visiting family in South Canterbury I stopped off at a few east coast beaches, and in one instance walked to the mouth of the Waitaki River to look at what was present in regards photography, and found [as hoped] some white baiters:
The Waitaki River mouth. With the river very rapidly flowing left to right in the foreground, and the swells coming in in the background and breaking from the right it’s an exciting, if not risky place, to take a stance!
Then on my return home and getting into writing here I asked myself: “What are whitebait?”
Usually translucent in the water and then tending to take on colour post being caught
Turns out it’s not a single species, but five species of the fish family Galaxiidae. All around 4–5 centimetres long and delicious to eat in more countries than just good ‘ole New Zealand.
In spring, often after a flood clears they swim upstream usually near the edges of rivers big and small, on a rising tide and during daylight hours
So what’s environmental photography got to do with little fish?
I’ve known for some time that what I thought of in my magical childhood as the common seagull being more a pest than anything [at age 5 poos from one landed on my ice cream!], I now realise the black billed gull is in the sad state of being the most threatened gull species in the world!
So too are white bait declining in numbers!
Is there a link?
Probably! Gulls feed in rivers [see below], and even more so since open “rubbish dumps” have turned into sanitised “transfer stations” thus denying gulls scavenging rights, and easy food during breeding times.
All over New Zealand the water quality of rivers has declined due to run-off from intensifying agriculture, and other reasons less obvious. And as it does so, “runs” of whitebait decline, no doubt due to spawning grounds being compromised.
The largest whitebait runs still occur in South Westland though. And guess what? There is very little or no intensive farming going on upstream – no coincidences here!
Near the headwaters of the Cook River in South Westland – no room here for agricultureIt can be wild and rough living in Ross, South Westland!
But lets get back to the Waitaki River on the east coast and ponder the health of the river bed between the river mouth as above and the Waitaki Dam upstream near Kurow – a distance of about 60 Km.
The Waitaki hydro scheme is a series of interconnected lakes and canals used to generate electricity. It’s made up of eight hydro stations on the Waitaki River the oldest and one closest to the sea being the Waitaki Dam.
A promise was made before the flow of the river was managed by Meridian Energy that river flows would be maintained in such a way as to ensure the river bed stayed in it’s natural state pre dam building. This has sadly never been honoured by any of the managing bodies.
Although very pretty these Californian poppies would not get a foot-hold if the occasional flood were allowed to “clean up’ the river bed here just a few kms downstream from the Waitaki Dam. Note too the various grasses. Unfortunately also all stones under the water have what is commonly known as didymo or rock snot covering them. None of these interlopers are going to help our rare braided river bed birds breed.Paua shells at the river mouth of the Waitaki River
New Zealand’s three native species of päua are distinctive because of their amazing multi-coloured shells. Päua are very important for Mäori. I’m not sure why there were so many piles of them as above scattered all over the stones.
I would not have thought the high energy nature of the beaches by the mouth of the Waitaki River would be a good habitat for paua, so maybe this could be addressed in a future blog post.
Lastly writing this has made me aware that there are many laws to be honoured by fisher people in regard to paua and other delectable water and river based life forms that can be caught, cooked and eaten.
If the laws are broken and the perpetrator is caught they’ll be up for a heavy fine and even jail, yet big businesses such as the dam owners are not held accountable for operating procedures that do worse by destroying the habitat!
Run the above images as a galley slide-show, click any thumbnail below:
Sir Alan Mark worked and earned tremendous respect in the Otago region long before being the recipient of a knighthood. His words below are well worth reading…
University of Otago botanist Prof Sir Alan Mark says the Havelock North water contamination crisis is a ”major wake-up call” about the need for more sustainable agriculture and better protection of drinking water.The Government has ordered
Recent events in Havelock North have triggered a growing interest in water quality!
Photo by Southern Light Are the cows and the rapidly expanding New Zealand dairy industry to blame? Read on below…
After a gloomy week of rain, the sun finally returned to Darfield. But the rain had brought poison, and the town soon fell sick.The crisis began with a smattering of upset stomachs, but ended with more than 100 seriously ill people. For a week in 2012, locals were vomiting and nauseous, struck down with diarrhoea and crippling abdominal pain. Residents piled into the local pharmacy. An employee told The Press about a toddler who had been vomiting every half hour for 40 hours straight. Days after the sickness began
