Northland’s Underwood Wetland reversing habitat loss

Game Bird Habitat Trust’s Robert Sowman and Andy Garrick, former landowner David Underwood, Andy Tannock from the trust, Fish & Game’s Corina Jordan and Rudi Hoetjes and former Auckland Regional Councillor Mike Lee celebrate the completion of the Underwood Wetland project on World Wetlands Day. Photo / Richard Cosgrove Fish & Game NZ

An ambitious project to turn a once-grazed Northland valley back into a lush wetland has been completed thanks to funding from hunting and fishing licences.

The Underwood Wetland project near Dargaville has created nearly 10ha of wetland, inside a protected 342ha reserve of native forest, wetland and river flats.

The project has been led by Fish & Game New Zealand, with the development taking place in two stages since 2016.

Creating new wetlands is a turnaround from other parts of New Zealand, with 5761ha of freshwater wetlands lost between 1996 and 2018, Fish & Game chief executive Corina Jordan said.

“It makes projects like this vitally important.

“Fish & Game’s journey has always been about protecting, restoring and rewilding Aotearoa New Zealand’s natural freshwater habitats and wildlife species.”

The land, along the Manganui and Northern Wairoa Rivers, was bought from local farmers David and Gloria Underwood with a $600,000 grant from the Nature Heritage Fund and $55,000 from the Northland Fish & Game Council for survey costs.

The 342ha area includes remnant kauri, hardwood forest, wetland and river flats containing scatterings of kahikatea.

It is home to threatened species, including the kauri snail, the North Island fernbird, marsh crakes and Australasian bittern. The creation of wetlands next to these river margins is expected to create important habitat for spawning inanga (whitebait) and threatened eel populations.

After the land was bought in 2016, 300ha of native forest was classified as scenic reserve to be administered by the Department of Conservation. The remaining 40ha of grassed valley floor and surrounds was vested to Northland Fish & Game Council as Local Purpose Reserve for the development of a wetland.

Stage one of the project included access work for both public tracks and to allow machinery onto the property, followed by a series of ponds being created from the head of the valley.

Stage two began in 2022 and involved building a 210m-long and 4m-high bund wall to block the valley floor and flood it, creating over 5ha of open water and vegetated shallows.

The final wetland now features almost 10ha of pools and ponds with the remaining area being remnant native forest, native plantings, grassland and newly created access tracks.

The Underwood Wetland project has created 10ha of ponds and pools plus preserved remnant native forest, native plantings and grassland, plus provided access with new tracks. Photo / Richard Cosgrove, Fish & Game NZ

The development work for the wetland has primarily been funded by $122,000 from the Northland Fish & Game Council and $137,900 from the Game Bird Habitat Trust - with money derived from the sale of hunting licences.

Costs for access to the property were shared with the Department of Conservation, and grants for plantings have also been received from Kaipara Moana Remediation and the One Billion Trees Programme for native plantings.

Planting work has been completed by Fish & Game staff as well as a significant volunteer effort from hunters and other supporters of the project.

Jordan attended a celebration of the project’s completion on World Wetland Day, February 2.

Fish & Game has been at the forefront of protecting New Zealand’s freshwater for the past three decades, spending $3 million a year on policy processes to look after wildlife habitats, including $2.4m to protect, restore and create wetlands.

Former Northland Fish & Game manager Rudi Hoetjes championed the project over the years.

“This couldn’t have happened without the Underwoods. They recognised how special the place was, that it was largely undeveloped, and they saw the potential to return it to its original forest and wetland.

“The majority of the Kaipara District is highly modified, so remnants like this are incredibly rare and valuable. The Underwoods’ sustainable management of the property meant that regeneration was underway before the reserve was created.”

• Kiwis can apply for funding through the Game Bird Habitat Stamp Programme for the protection and enhancement of the habitat of game birds or other wildlife. From every game bird hunting licence sold, $5 goes to the New Zealand Game Bird Habitat Trust.