August 02, 2016
Filter plan for threatened peat lakes
Fonterra and the Department of Conservation have given what are being described as kidney transplants to two critically threatened Waikato peat lakes.
Silt traps have been installed at the edge of Lakes Ruatuna and Rotomanuka as part of the Living Water project involving the dairy giant, DOC, iwi, farmers, community groups and other stakeholders.
North Island project manager Tim Brandenburg says the peat lakes are an integral part of New Zealand’s landscape, but they are threatened by the sediment and excess nutrients that drain off cleared lands surrounding them.
Silt traps are a way to artificially recreate what would normally happen in nature when a stream meanders through a wetland which filters out silt.
The partnership is also planting the lake edges with thousands of native wetland plants to provide habitat for native wildlife.
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