NZARM Conference 2025: Innovation in wetland preservation - four years of building puddles скачать в хорошем качестве

NZARM Conference 2025: Innovation in wetland preservation - four years of building puddles

Blair Reid presented on 'Innovation in wetland preservation - four years of building puddles' at the NZARM Conference in Marlborough. The presentation outlines lessons from a Jobs for Nature programme focused on wetland restoration in Tasman District, with an emphasis on how different knowledge systems and restoration approaches affect cost, outcomes, and long-term viability. It matters because it challenges conventional, engineering-heavy models of wetland creation and highlights more effective, scalable ways to restore wetland function at pace. A central message is that stronger outcomes are achieved by weaving together mātauranga Māori, western science, and landowner knowledge, rather than treating them as competing systems. This integrated approach improves design decisions, strengthens relationships, and supports shared ownership of outcomes. The project also reframes wetland restoration as a collective responsibility, recognising that historical drainage practices were widely encouraged and that solutions must bring communities along rather than assign blame. The presentation contrasts traditional constructed wetlands with approaches that restore natural hydrology. While constructed wetlands and hard-engineered retention structures have a role, they are costly, complex, and prone to failure if mis-scaled. In contrast, enhancing degraded natural wetlands, by re-wetting floodplains, re-meandering drains, or installing low-impact plugs, delivers comparable or better ecological outcomes at significantly lower cost. Evidence from multiple sites shows that once hydrology is corrected, wetlands often re-establish rapidly through natural recruitment, with minimal ongoing intervention.