Altimarloch

Altimarloch Vineyard is situated in the mid Awatere Valley Marlborough. The former sheep farm has been converted on the terraces to productive vineyard but amongst this are wetlands and escarpments that the management of Altimarloch wish to restore.

The first phase of this restoration is the creation of a 2 ha wetland that currently is infested with Grey and Crack Willow. Work has started to poison the Crack Willow and cut and paste the Grey Willow.

The site will be planted in 3,000 native plants this winter with the emphasis being on planting to shade and protect the standing water and to introduce a greater biodiversity.

Altimarloch Vineyard management are really supportive and doing all they can to assist this restoration and help where digger work has been required.

This project is an exciting opportunity to create an island of biodiversity in an awesome landscape. One of the neatest things about our work is seeing the many pockets of habitat amongst productive vineyards in Marlborough. In what can look like a landscape dominated by grape production, there often exists a network of streams and wetlands that can hold significant natural values. Some wetlands we work on in Marlborough are the last refuges of the increasingly rare Swamp Nettle, Urtica perconfusa or freshwater mussels, not to mention other more common species. It is great to have the opportunity to reintroduce some of the threatened Marlborough species to these plantings.

We look forward to the planting of the Altimarloch Wetland and the creation of another pocket of biodiversity to add to the others on this outstanding property.