Newsletter #90
Top: Braided Rivers Seminar 2024
Tēnā koutou,
It was great to see so many familiar faces, and equally great to see new faces at this year’s seminar. When I began working for BRaid some eight years ago I asked a lot of questions in order to build the website. For the most part, the answers were, ‘We don’t know’. Many of the presentations at this seminar are making big inroads into those knowledge gaps. Certainly, these answers are generating new questions, but that’s the nature of science, and many new questions are much more targeted.
The passion and dedication that drives those of you working as volunteers, students, researchers, front line employees (and often several of those simultaneously) is compelling; something that came through very clearly in every presentation. Thank you once again to our speakers and to all of you who took a day out of your busy schedule to attend. The presentations (PDFs and videos) are now online.
If you would like to present at next year’s seminar, please send your abstract sooner rather than later. We receive far more than can fit into a single day, and we don’t have the capacity to run multi-day events, so the more complete your abstract, the easier it will be for the committee to evaluate.
Bird Surveys
- Please send any bird surveys to: manager@braid.org.nz. These are added to newsletters and on the website under each river name.
News
- The Coleridge Habitat Enhancement Trust (CHET) is inviting applications for funding for environmental/ecological projects(PDF) Final date: 31 July
- A four-year NIWA study has found that constructed wetlands can reliably remove more than half of the nitrate leaching from dairy farm pastures, story: Wetland wonders: cleaning up our freshwater
- Groundwater, river flows, melting glaciers, and kai. I’ve included this here in reference to the discussions we had at the end of the Braided Rivers seminar.
Research & Reports
- 2023: Ashburton River Hakatere Shorebird Habitat Management Strategy 2023-2030: A review of freshwater models used to support the regulation and management of water in New Zealand – Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment
- 2024: First synthetic gene drive for plants could help eradicate weeds – Science (Note: given the length of time seeds can survive, this is likely to be of limited value; recommend watching Jaz Morris’ Braided Rivers 2024 presentation on weeds.)
- 2024: First birds molted their feathers much like modern ones, fossils show – Science
- 2024: Rat poison’s long reach – also found in insects as well as predators – Science
Donations
BRaid is an Incorporated Society (No: 2453663) with Charitable Status (Registration Number CC50089). Membership is free but donations are much appreciated. Donations can be made to BRaid Inc. Account number: 01 0877 0818466 00. Please include your name in the reference line and ideally email us, so that we can thank you and send you a receipt. Donations are tax deductable citing our NZ Business Number 9429043210572.