When Europeans settled New Zealand, they regarded braided rivers as ‘normal’ rivers surrounded by useless swamps and undeveloped land. Water was seen as an endless resource that could be used to generate power and to eradicate biodiversity in favour of agriculture. In spite of this, the braided rivers frequently did what they had done for millions of years: filled their braidplains with water, flushing out any pollutants, and delivering enough gravel to extend the coast seaward. Viewing them as hazard, the once wild rivers were treated as an enemy to be tamed. Wetlands that had once acted as natural kidneys and provided endless kai were drained and concreted over to become towns and cities like Christchurch, Woodend, Rangiora, and Kaiapoi. Everywhere else, thousands and thousands of hectares of braidplains were lost to agriculture , primarily to support the dairy industry which, perversely, intensively polluted the rivers. To protect towns and farms from an enemy of our own making, we then engineered stopbanks, levees, and bunds, and planted invasive trees like willows that sucked up water like camels. Once life-giving pure clean water now costs millions of tax and ratepayer dollars to make it ‘drinkable’—if you ignore international standards on what’s regarded as drinkable in terms of nitrates. The extraordinary biodiversity of the braidplains that once provided these essential life-supporting ecosystem services hand that we now desperately need to mitigate climate change, have been methodically destroyed.

This story is not colonial history. It’s still happening. And recent (2018) case law has further depleted the legal definition of a braided river; scroll down to see the redefined Ahuri River.

Neverthless, people, councils, and community groups are fighting back, determined to save and restore the biodiversity of these incredibly rich and globally rare ecosystems.