To help landowners understand and plan wetland restoration, Friends of Awa Matakanakana and Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust are bringing Dr Rebecca Eivers to Matakana for a free one-day workshop.
Registration is essential to ensure we have enough food for your light lunch!
Rebecca will share her experience of creating small, farm-scale constructed treatment wetlands, and restoring natural wetlands.
The aim is for water quality and quantity treatment to enhance biodiversity within intensive farming and horticultural landscapes.
She will expand on projects, including coarse sedimentation ponds, fine sediment and particulate nutrient filtration, nutrient uptake and E. coli reduction. She will also share experiences of re-wetting and restoring existing drained and degraded wetlands.
During farm visits, participants can discuss how best to avoid the problems and issues Rebecca has encountered while working with wetland ecosystems.
Participants can learn how to achieve the right wetland type, in the right place, for the right reasons and how to search for and recognise good opportunities for wetland re-wetting, re-creation, restoration, and construction in their focus areas or catchments.
Wetlands restore native biodiversity, including aquatic life – from tuna/eels, kōkopu and inanga, right down the food chain to macroinvertebrates and zooplankton, as well as plants and macrophytes, and populations of native wetland birds.
As well as boosting biodiversity, wetlands are giant sponges that filter water and soak up storm water – protecting rivers, lakes, estuaries, coastal environments and our residential communities.
Originally from a sheep and beef farm in Tairāwhiti/Gisborne, Rebecca is an applied freshwater ecologist, wetland specialist, and water quality scientist. Her overarching goal is to support our natural environment, and our people – to be healthy and thriving.
Lunch and light refreshments will be provided.
Registration is essential.
Also check out other Workshops in Leigh.
