Date: |
16 May 2023, 11.00AM – 12.00PM |
duration: |
1 hr |
Location: |
Online |
Cost: |
Free event |
Communities and regional authorities around New Zealand actively manage river corridors to protect lives and property from flooding and erosion. There are a variety of methods to control and manage the impacts of flooding, with key actions including stop-banks, gravel extraction and managing vegetation within the active channel. In addition, various forms of bank protection are routinely employed to prevent erosion, such as rock walls, groins or managed willows. While these techniques can be effective at reducing flooding and erosion risk, they can have negative impacts on river health. Impacts include altered hydrology, reduced habitat complexity and reduced connectivity with floodplain habitats (e.g., riparian areas and floodplain wetlands). Collectively, these effects can reduce fish and macroinvertebrate habitat quality with flow-on consequences for overall river health.
This webinar will discuss the potential ecological impacts of river engineering (for flood control) and pair these impacts with potential actions to minimise and / or mitigate instream ecological impacts. This session will draw on the general river management literature and reflect on my recent experience in the Hawkes Bay region. Here I was involved in developing an ecological monitoring plan, with HBRC, to help manage the potential ecological effects of gravel management in the braided rivers of the Heretaunga plains.
Robin is a freshwater ecologist at the Cawthron Institute. He is involved in a range of projects with a focus on river and stream restoration, freshwater fisheries management and community approaches to river heath improvement. His research interests include land-use impacts on aquatic ecology and understanding native fish and salmonid life-histories and population dynamics. Recently, he has been involved in projects to enhance freshwater ecosystem values within agricultural landscapes, through actively restoring physical / structural stream habitat and promoting alternative land and stream management practices. He has a co-lead role in supporting the current MBIE-Endeavour Fish Futures programme: https://www.fishfutures.co.nz/.
The Rivers Group will be hosting the River Ecology series, boasting a variety of topics and presenters throughout the month of May. This programme is sponsored by Regional Councils River Managers Special Interest Group and Te Uru Kahika and Kanoa.
Communities and regional authorities around New Zealand actively manage river corridors to protect lives and property from flooding and erosion. There are a variety of methods to control and manage the impacts of flooding, with key actions including stop-banks, gravel extraction and managing vegetation within the active channel. In addition, various forms of bank protection are routinely employed to prevent erosion, such as rock walls, groins or managed willows. While these techniques can be effective at reducing flooding and erosion risk, they can have negative impacts on river health. Impacts include altered hydrology, reduced habitat complexity and reduced connectivity with floodplain habitats (e.g., riparian areas and floodplain wetlands). Collectively, these effects can reduce fish and macroinvertebrate habitat quality with flow-on consequences for overall river health.
This webinar will discuss the potential ecological impacts of river engineering (for flood control) and pair these impacts with potential actions to minimise and / or mitigate instream ecological impacts. This session will draw on the general river management literature and reflect on my recent experience in the Hawkes Bay region. Here I was involved in developing an ecological monitoring plan, with HBRC, to help manage the potential ecological effects of gravel management in the braided rivers of the Heretaunga plains.
Robin is a freshwater ecologist at the Cawthron Institute. He is involved in a range of projects with a focus on river and stream restoration, freshwater fisheries management and community approaches to river heath improvement. His research interests include land-use impacts on aquatic ecology and understanding native fish and salmonid life-histories and population dynamics. Recently, he has been involved in projects to enhance freshwater ecosystem values within agricultural landscapes, through actively restoring physical / structural stream habitat and promoting alternative land and stream management practices. He has a co-lead role in supporting the current MBIE-Endeavour Fish Futures programme: https://www.fishfutures.co.nz/.
