Silverstream Restoration.
Community Project: Water and Wildlife Habitat Trust
Project type: Silverstream Restoration
The Water and Wildlife Habitat Trust advocates for healthy waterways and wildlife habitats while promoting and facilitating whole-of-catchment collaborative partnerships for ecologically sustainable land use, nature conservation, and enhanced community involvement, education, and enjoyment.
The Silverstream Restoration Project is a project to restore the Silverstream catchment. There are many groups involved, including landowners, Fish & Game, the Water & Wildlife Habitat Trust, Environment Canterbury, and the University of Canterbury’s Canterbury Waterway Rehabilitation Experiment team (CAREX).
Funding from Central Plains Environmental Management Funding (EMF) involved in-filling with native plants and maintaining those plants for three years until canopy closure has been reached. At this stage, the maintenance will be handed over to the landowners.
Impact.
Short term.
- The completion of a demonstration site that has excellent native plant coverage and is relatively low maintenance
- An increase in terrestrial biodiversity
- Increased overhanging vegetation to provide cover for fish
- Macrophyte cover is reduced to the point where mechanical clearance, spraying or hand weed clearance is not required
Longer term.
- Creating habitat and improving water flow and quality will restore Macroinvertebrate, populations of Mayfly, Cassidfly ad Damselfly are all good for fish, eels, crayfish and snails.
- Reduced contaminants entering the Selwyn River and Te Waihora
- Increase in fish abundance and diversity
- A reduction in nitrogen, phosphorus, and pathogens
- An exemplar example of more sustainable waterway management that leads to improved waterway management in the region and nationally
