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Open Day To Explore Benefits Of Wetlands

Taranaki Regional Council media release
22 January 2009
For immediate release

Open Day To Explore Benefits Of Wetlands

The value of wetlands in Taranaki will be highlighted at a public field day on Sunday, 1 February.

The event, marking World Wetlands Day, will take place at Oeo Road, Auroa, where Kevin and Marianne Murphy have protected and enhanced a 2.1 ha stream and swamp area with fencing and around 6,500 native plants.

“I had a vision of planting what was an unattractive area near the farm homestead – using exclusively native plants to get it looking something like it must have been before the land was cleared,” says Mr Murphy.

The planting will enhance water quality in the wetland by shading the water, intercepting and filtering runoff and absorbing or removing nitrogen, and encouraging indigenous biodiversity.

After erecting 1200 m of fencing, much of it using recycled concrete posts and strainers, the Murphys enlisted the aid of extended family, Auroa School pupils and Pihama Young Farmers Club to help with planting the wetland. Funding assistance came from the QEII National Trust, South Taranaki District Council and Taranaki Tree Trust.

Mr Murphy does not feel the project has cost the farm any land. “It was unproductive and a hazard. We’d lose a cow a year down there. And eventually there will be value from the shelter provided by the trees.”

World Wetlands Day, observed internationally on 2 February, is designed to draw attention to such environmental and practical benefits of wetland protection. The theme this year is: “Upstream, downstream – wetlands connect us all.”

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Sunday’s open day begins at 10am at the Murphy property, 792 Oeo Road, dairy No. 41544. As well as inspecting the planting, visitors will hear presentations from representatives of QEII National Trust, the Taranaki Tree Trust, the Taranaki Regional Council, and Fish and Game Taranaki.

These and other agencies promote wetland enhancement in Taranaki. For example, the Taranaki Regional Council has identified 77 wetlands as regionally significant.

“Many of these are now legally protected by covenants or memoranda of encumberance, or are in the public conservation estate,” says the Council’s Land Services Manager, Don Shearman. “The remainder are still protected by rules in the Regional Fresh Water Plan.

“They are all important links in the hydrological cycle and Council staff can provide general advice and information to landowners on how to protect and enhance them.”

ENDS

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