Linkwater
When Karen Morrison wasn't busy running the family's 84-hectare dairy farm in Linkwater, you could find her rallying her neighbours and others in her area to take part in the Linkwater catchment group. Karen was an early supporter of Te Hoiere Project and led coordination of the Linkwater Catchment Group for a couple of years.
In Linkwater, adjoining neighbours have released dung beetles together, fences went up, native plants went in, and (a first in the catchment) neighbours have banded together to monitor water across the entire sub-catchment.
All up, about 30 sites in Linkwater have taken part in the monitoring. The first samples were taken in December 2021, with the second set of samples in June 2023.
Karen and her family have planted thousands of native plants along their waterways, fenced to exclude stock, and released dung beetles.
Learn more about Karen's family and Linkwater's efforts here from Radio New Zealand.
What benefits have been seen so far in Linkwater?
- Birdsong and native birds that were rarely seen are now making their way back consistently to the area, such as karearea, or the New Zealand falcon.
- Monitoring is showing improving freshwater in the sub catchment.
- Continued learnings from neighbours sharing information with one another.
- With dung beetles taking a few years to establish, evidence of them have been seen, but will take a couple of more years to see real benefits.
Above: The Linkwater community in the first community workshops; catchment condition surveys; forming their own catchment group; dung beetle releases; planting supported by the Project; and a native seed workshop.
Below: The catchment group held an event at the Memorial Hall to share information, and bring in a guest speaker to talk about native freshwater fish living in their waterways.
