Doubtless Bay River Restoration

The Ngā Awa River Restoration Programme is a collaborative research programme led by a Doubtless Bay hapū collective, AUT and Te Papa Atawhai | Department of Conservation (DOC).

This collaboration supports freshwater restoration initiatives in three Doubtless Bay catchments: the Awapoko, Oruru and Oruaiti River sub-catchments. The Ngā Awa programme is focused on co-design and co-leadership with mana whenua.

The Doubtless Bay community is interested in restoration planting advice for the catchments with the aim of building resilience to climate change impacts, including drought, coastal salinisation, increased flooding and wildfire risk.

Wildfire risk is one example of a critical issue that will become more prevalent with climate change. In mixed-use landscapes typified by the Doubtless Bay catchment, this risk is related to the distribution of flammable woody material across the landscape.

There are hotspots of flammability in the Doubtless Bay catchment that reflect the distribution of vegetation types across the landscape.

These hotspots correspond mainly to areas of exotic and native shrubland, much of which appears to comprise regenerating vegetation, possibly after retirement from farming. Nature-based interventions that replace flammable woody vegetation with lower flammability and the creation of 'green firebreaks' using native vegetation will lower wildfire risk.

In addition to co-designing plans to reduce the flammability of vegetation, the Ngā Awa River Restoration Programme has been working to:

• Develop a detailed regenerative landscape intervention plan.
• Collect and overlay detailed information on vegetation (e.g. weeds, wetlands) and biodiversity in the catchments.
• Consider the establishment of field trials to help with revegetation.
• Explore technical and financial options to support individuals in achieving revegetation objectives.

Useful links

• DOC information on the project
• Storymaps blog
• DOC blog entry

The Ngā Awa River Restoration Programme is ongoing. The programme’s goal is to see river ecosystems and species thriving from mountains to sea, which enrich people’s lives.