Research scholarships aid restoration of native wetlands
Thanks to Wetland Care Research Scholarships funded by Ducks Unlimited, our student researchers are finding the best ways to recreate a haven for waterfowl.
Wetlands in Aotearoa New Zealand are precious natural resources viewed as taonga by Māori, which provide a habitat for fish and birds.
Even in purely financial terms, wetlands are valuable for their role in filtering nutrients from water, absorbing carbon, and controlling erosion and flooding.
Sadly, they are now in crisis. With over 90% of our wetlands lost over the past 100 years, many plants and animals are struggling for survival, including the elusive matuku (Australasian bittern) and pūweto (spotless crake).
Leading conservation group, Ducks Unlimited, aims to save wetlands through protection, funding, technical aid, and education, so that the flora and fauna of our most endangered ecosystem are a legacy we can pass down to future generations.
Part of their education focus is sponsoring Wetland Care Research Scholarships to support postgraduate students from any university who want to push the boundaries of what is known about wetland restoration and conservation. Since the scholarship programme began in 2018, multiple students from the Centre for Biodiversity and Restoration Ecology (CBRE) have benefitted from this funding to add to our knowledge about successful wetland restoration.
Ducks Unlimited Director, Jim Law, has been personally involved in many wetland restoration projects around South Wairarapa. Jim is a retired company executive who spent 30 years working overseas before returning to New Zealand to fulfil a lifelong dream to create a large-scale sheep and beef farm. On his Palliser Ridge property, dams have created a string of wetlands with regenerating native bush and nesting boxes for waterfowl. As well as beef and lamb, the award-winning farm now produces wool and honey and offers tourism experiences.
Jim is passionate about helping young people reach their full potential. During the ten years he spent in Africa he was distressed to see the thousands of children denied an education—a staggering failure both for the individuals and for the capability of the nation.
“There could have been an Einstein”, he notes.
“I have always believed that education is probably the best way to improve people's lives, both in providing for their needs and in creating personal fulfilment.”
After receiving a Commerce degree at Victoria University of Wellington and his Chartered Accountant qualifications, Jim had the opportunity to work in London, which he found a life-changing experience. He and his wife Marilyn have sponsored three Master’s scholarships in Ecology at the University as well as annual tertiary scholarships and book prizes at his local Pirinoa school.
Jim was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his extensive service to the community. Along with fellow members of Ducks Unlimited and the Wetland Care New Zealand Trust, he is an enthusiastic advocate for including postgraduate students in restoration projects.
The restoration of Wairio wetland next to Wairarapa Moana is an outstanding success story resulting from the combined efforts of Ducks Unlimited, DOC, Greater Wellington Regional Council and many community groups, as well as students from the CBRE. Following draining for development in the 1960s and 70s, bare paddocks were all that remained of the once-thriving wetland paradise.
Now it is a flourishing ecosystem teeming with birdlife which the public can enjoy viewing from a series of walkways. As well as native ducks and black swans, rare royal spoonbills and the critically endangered Australasian bittern, or matuku, are now breeding there.
The project, which is a blueprint for how to restore a wetland, was originally managed by Ducks Unlimited New Zealand in a joint venture with the Department of Conservation. Wairarapa iwi Ngāti Kuhungunu and Rangitāne are kaitiaki of the wetland.
Students from the CBRE led by Dr Stephen Hartley first became involved in 2011, joining the project to restore a kahikatea ‘swamp forest’ to the site. They aimed to bring a scientific approach to testing and monitoring the different management techniques being trialled. As restoration projects are costly, both in terms of money and the time spent by volunteers, it was important to gather data on the most cost-effective way to re-establish a wetland forest.
Master’s students Bridget Johnson and Aprille Gillon evaluated which combinations of plant species and management techniques created the best chance of survival, including whether fast-growing ‘nurse plants’ helped to nurture the slower-growing kahikatea and totara.
Community volunteers planted over 2000 trees in one day, including forest trees like totara, kahikatea, manuka, and tī kōuka (cabbage trees).
Bridget went on to study for a PhD in ecological restoration in Western Australia, while Aprille is working as a senior ecologist in the UK following five years with Greater Wellington’s wetland management team.
In 2018 Shannon Bentley, the first Wetland Care Scholarship recipient, found that wetland restoration on farms could improve plant, soil, and microbial characteristics. Shannon joined the Wetlands for People and Place collaboration involving a broader team of CBRE researchers supported by the Holdsworth Foundation, the Sir Hugh Kawharu Foundation, and Wairarapa Moana Trust.
Scholarship recipient Olya Albot investigated the importance of coastal wetlands for carbon sequestration and wildlife and the impact of sea-level rise on these environments in 2022.
For fellow recipient Cameron Johnson, who investigated carbon sequestration rates of the trees planted in 2011, his research has led to a career in using carbon accounting as a centre point for ecological restoration.
Two students from CBRE have received Wetland Care scholarships for 2024. Jessica Wagner will assess the ability of three different scents and three different sounds to lure wild rats at the Wairio Wetland. She hopes to identify the most effective way to attract rats to traps, assisting with the long-term goal of a predator-free New Zealand by 2050.
Pearl Ruston hopes to address a gap in our understanding about whether restored wetlands can absorb and retain excess nitrogen, and thus restore natural nitrogen recycling processes. The scholarship will allow her to gather more comprehensive data and conduct nitrogen isotope analyses to advance our knowledge of the impact of wetland conservation.
We are grateful to Ducks Unlimited, the Holdsworth Charitable Trust, and other sponsors for supporting our students and postdoctoral candidates to progress their research while making a meaningful contribution towards recovering our precious wetlands.