FuturEcology & EmGuard ™ February 2022 update
The beautiful weather of January is now just a distant memory. We had two 10 year floods in two days here in Hira, and it even made the news! We had family from the North Island ringing to check that we were okay.
Our normally quiet river peaked at 125 cumecs per second on Thursday the 3rd February. Our main concern was all the riparian planting we have done down the length of the river, as a great deal of it was inundated. We had a range of ages in the planting, from 6 months to three years, but all performed remarkably well. Very few plants were washed out, with the key being “the right plant in the right place”.
On a personal note, we welcomed our first grandchild on the 2nd of the 2nd 2022, a gorgeous wee girl who will be a delight to get to know.
Just a reminder our EmGuard ™ prices increased from the 5th of January 2022 to $1.96 inc GST due to a rise in manufacturing and distribution costs.
One week on from major inundation
Kākahi
Echyridella menziesi
The kākahi is New Zealand’s fresh water mussel and was a valuable mahinga kai resource for Māori. Although the kākahi was not the most appetizing of the fisheries resources, it was the most important in story, song, and proverb (NIWA, n.d).
New Zealand’s freshwater mussel is a species that has been listed as population decreasing, attributed to the loss of habitat, eutrophication, and other types of pollution. These creatures are uncommon in the top of the South Island and rarely noticed.
FuturEcology staff have been excited to find these while working on a project in the Wairau Valley, up near Wairau Village. Closer to home staff have found these in a tributary of the Rai river and a wetland tributary of the Rai.
Freshwater mussels have the most fascinating life story and have a co-dependence on a host fish, the kōaro (one of the whitebait species) to shift their eggs when they spawn. The kākahi ’s parasitic larval stage (the glochidia), sees the glochidium larva attach to their host fish like parasites, relying on the fish to take them up stream to soft, sandy sediments in lake and river beds. While there has been limited research undertaken in New Zealand relating to the presence, distribution, and density of the kākahi it is likely that the health of streams affecting the presence of kōaro impacts the life cycle of the kākahi .
This relationship highlights the need for good fish passage and freedom of movement for migratory fish species within waterways.
Fencing of streams and waterways along with planting for shade and bank stability are all most important for these highly vulnerable molluscs.
We always get very excited finding kākahi in streams as it is a great indicator of stream health and biodiversity, and this brings home the importance of what we are doing and why we are doing it. Presence of freshwater mussels is a very real indicator of success of riparian restoration. https://niwa.co.nz/te-kuwaha/tools-and-resources/taonga-species-series/kakahi
Flood Repair – “I’m still standing”
Where did summer go? While we were grateful for some rain, two ten-year flood events back to back over two days was a little excessive don’t you think?
Last week we were out assessing the damage to our projects and spent some time down at Wakapuaka mouri project where the river went through. While some guards in lower lying areas were lost (thank goodness for biodegradable), overall the planting survived incredibly well.
Something we noticed when collecting up guards that had washed off, was that they tended to still be in the general location and hadn’t floated away. Our feeling is that as the guards soak up the water, they get heavy and sink, rather than floating on the surface of the water, like plastic would. This means they don’t travel as far, and won’t end up travelling out to sea. We noticed they got tangled up in forestry slash, but being biodegradable, they will simply rot away along with the slash.
Still standing after obvious inundation
Many of the guards that were in direct firing line of the water were able to be stood up, and we also pulled out flood debris from any plants that needed it. Despite many plants and guards being flattened during the flood, we were pleased to see the fantastic growth and colour of the plants, and the fact that 99% of the plants were still there. This in our eyes, is a real success.
It shows the plants had had long enough in their guards to grow a strong root base, giving them the strength to hold on despite the intensity of the water. Now, with some sunshine, these plants are going to thrive.
Watch this space!
Weed Challenge of the Month
Woolly mullein
Verbascum thapsus
Woolly mullein is a very distinctive weed often found in waste places, roadsides and pastures and is common in drier eastern areas. Woolly mullein resembles a large rosette up to 600mm across and is made up of large, thick, silvery-grey woolly leaves. In their second year, a flowering stem grows from the centre of the rosette to around 1m tall displaying a spike of yellow flowers.
Woolly mullein was originally found in Europe and western Asia and was first recorded in New Zealand in 1864, likely introduced as a garden plant. The Greeks and Romans are said to have used the stems and leaves as torches, and the seeds as fish poison, while the flowers have been used to make yellow dye. Interestingly the plant also has a pagan significance and for this reason their growth was banned by the early Christian church.
As woolly mullein tends to grow in poor pasture or disturbed earth, dense planting and ground cover is an effective method for limiting the growth of the weed. For chemical control, woolly mullein is susceptible to both tordon and glyphosate but the use of these chemicals should be done carefully and safely to minimize damage to surrounding areas.
We hope that all your projects from last season have survived this unpredictable weather. Weed growth is looking like it will be phenomenal from now on, so keep on top of it! Also, peak wasp season is here so baiting and poisoning will be paramount. Check out this link to Vespex.
We continue to compile our pre-orders with our EmGuard ™ manufacturer, so if you know your approximate numbers for this year and want to order guards, please advise us as early as possible to ensure we can get them to you on time. We have plenty on hand at the moment for smaller orders.
Thank you.