Newsletter #59
Tēnā koutou,
The draft programme for the 2021 Braided Rivers seminar at Lincoln University Wednesday 14 July is now online. At this time I have listed some but not all presenters and a very short subject description. This will be updated over the coming weeks, but it will give you an idea of what’s on offer. I encourage you to book now as this FREE event has historically been booked out and waitlisted. You can always cancel, and we always require you to confirm your attendance a week or so before the event.
The BRaid website is continuously being updated with information and reports, not all of which are listed here as this newsletter is already long. If you’re looking for something and don’t have time to browse, don’t forget you can use the internal search engine at the top and also bottom of each page, plus the sidebar in the main news pages.
Ngā mihi,
Sonny Whitelaw manager@braid.org.nz
Reports:
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Braided river bird management plan for the Waimakariri River Regional Park
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Wild Animal Management Plan, Upper Rangitata River Catchment
- Upper Waimakariri River Weed Control Strategy
- Ministry for the Environment: ‘Our Land 2021’ (land use change)
- New Zealand Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990-2019 (agriculture produces 48%)
- Essential Freshwater Interpretation Guidance: Wetlands Definitions (draft)
- An investigation into wetland loss 1996-2018 (Wetlands Trust)
News:
- The Kakī/Black Stilt Recovery Programme is looking for two suitable individuals to join the team on a temporary contract. Please contact Claudia Mischler for more details: cmischler@doc.govt.nz.
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Birds NZ Research Fund 2021 – Open for Applications until 15 June
- Nine of Canterbury’s 10 water zone committees are looking for new community members application close 10 May
- Water still at the heart of Canterbury’s key environmental concerns (Stuff)
- Giving rivers room to move: this was being discussed when I was an undergrad in the 1970s. Looks like it’s finally being put into action in the US. When will New Zealand consider the same strategy?
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The government is pushing ahead with its three waters reform programme, the biggest shakeup in local government in decades (NZ Geographic /Radio NZ interview)
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Plan to woo world’s most endangered gull away from city ruins (videos and article Stuff)
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If we want to improve NZ’s freshwater quality, first we need to improve the quality of our democracy (Sciblogs)
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Conservationists shocked to find hedgehogs 2000 metres up mountains in Mackenzie Basin (One News)
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Omarama farmer guilty of illegal vegetation clearance (Stuff)
- Rivers can be climate change solutions, too (Michele Thieme, freshwater scientist World Wildlife Fund | Stuff)
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More than 300 old dumps at risk of coastal erosion and flooding (Stuff) the same problem exists along many of our rivers)
- Water scheme opponents: Canterbury Plains environment ‘ruined’ by farming (Stuff)
- 17 hand-reared whio from The Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust successfully released into the alpine rivers of Arthur’s Pass National Park
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It’s sold as ‘100% pure’, but behind New Zealand’s clean, green image lies a dirty truth (ABC News: Australia) 2.5 min video. The full length video from Foreign Correspondent is visible at the bottom of this page.
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Polluted waterways – why are we subsidising environmental harm? (Mike Joy/Radio NZ)
- We’ve lost another 13,000 hectares of native habitat to farming in just five years, and yet farmers are inverting reality by claiming the government’s aim to protect what little remains is grabbing land from them (TVNZ)
- The Christchurch city and surrounding plains ecosystem info is live online (native plant list guide)
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A plea to better protect native fish (Newsroom)
Research:
- Distribution, long term population trends and conservation status of banded dotterels (Charadrius bicinctus bicinctus) on braided rivers in New Zealand (Notornis 67 |4 pp733-753)
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Displaced by riverbed flooding; quantifying numbers and distribution of refugee wrybill (Anarhynchus frontalis) on Canterbury coastal wetlands in October–November 2013 (Notornis 67 | 4 pp765-771)
- Survival and breeding success of wrybills (Anarhynchus frontalis) in the Tekapo and Tasman Rivers, South Canterbury, New Zealand (Nortornis 67 | 755-764)
- Distribution and numbers of waders in New Zealand, 2005–2019 (Nortornis 67 | 4 pp591-364)
- Fungal decomposition of river organic matter accelerated by decreasing glacier cover (includes research on the implications for NZ braided rivers (Nature Climate Change 11 pp349–353)
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Plumage and song split two nearly identical birds into different species (Science/YouTube feature)
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After more than 2 decades of searching, scientists finger cause of mass eagle deaths (Science) This has implications for our waterways as temperatures increase, as Hydrilla is in the North Island.
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Birds versus bees: Here are the winners and losers in the great pesticide trade-off (Science)
