twinkles

page two is Summary Of Wetland Values Biodiversity and natural heritage - Estuaries and lakes are preferred habitat for many migratory and native bird species. Wetlands can have specifically adapted plants and animals that are not found in dry land ecosystems. Maori cultural heritage - Wetlands provide an important link in the history and culture of many hapu. The plants that grow in wetlands provided clothing, mats, and were a source of medicine, food, and dye. Wetland animals, particularly tuna (eels) were valuable foods. Fisheries - A number of harvested fish spend some of their lifecycle in swamps, ponds, and estuaries. Recreation - Hunters, anglers, boaties, and tourists spend much time and money on active or passive recreational activities in wetlands and wet places. Water quality - Wetlands are vital to cleansing water by trapping sediment and capturing nutrient from water that flows through them. Flood mitigation - By soaking up and storing water, wetlands mitigate flooding and moderate water flows off the land and into the rivers. Water stored in wetlands is released slowly, which helps maintain water flows between rainfall events. Shoreline and bank protection - Vegetated wetland margins on lakes, rivers and estuaries absorb the energy of waves and water currents. Unprotected shorelines and banks erode faster than those that are protected by marshes and swamps. Carbon Storage - Wetlands store carbon in the form of living material (plants) and preserved plant material (peat). Wetland drainage releases this carbon as carbon dioxide. On a global scale, wetland destruction is believed to contribute to the Greenhouse Effect. with the details of the report it comes from at the top.

great proofing Stella, just what i needed thanks Will go and make those changes. Titipounamu = rifleman. All statistics/statements to be referenced are straight from the Horizons website, i thought that was the best way to stop them questioning them. Have also added a second page - see next post - which is copied from the Horizons regional plan on preserving wetlands (how contradictory is that). Thought i might add another page or two with a complete (as much as i can anyway) list of the native plants, birds, insects, fish etc and a few pics of them. Am meeting with the mayor tomorrow so want to have as much stuff ready as possible and looking tidy and factual.

right, read through this people and tell me whats wrong with it, grammer and spelling, parts that sound wrong etc. May remove the mention of mudfish. Then when its good i'm printing it and taking it round the rest of the neighbours, maraes, local council etc to try and gather some support. Behind a row of houses on Tumoana St lies an oft ignored and disregarded piece of land. Nestled between the stopbank and the river, this little strip boasts an amazing array of native plants and animals, with many mature trees, three small wetlands, and an ever-growing area of bush regenerating to its former glory. Nesting in the trees are Tui, Ruru and Fantails to name a few, and a pair of Titipounamu are frequently spotted spiraling around the tree trunks. The wetlands are home to several species of Galaxied (mature whitebait) and is a perfect habitat for the threatened mudfish. Several large nikau and cabbage trees are the dominating feature of the forest, in summer attracting a flock of Keruru with their sprays of berries. Why are wetlands and low lying bush important? Over the last 150 years, the Horizons region has lost 97% of its swamps and wetlands. As well as supporting the most diverse natural life of any native habitat, wetlands play a major role in flood protection. Heavy rainfall falling onto wetlands and bush seeps slowly through the leaf litter and into the ground, lessening the amount of water flowing straight into the river. Rainfall on a grassy paddock runs into the river immediately, rapidly increasing its flow rate and causing the danger of flash flooding downstream. Why do we need to tell you all this? Starting in the next few weeks, Horizons Regional Council has plans to remove every piece of vegetation in this area, fill in the wetlands and raise the level of the ground 50cm. If they go ahead with this proposal it will mean an end to the plethora of native birds that brighten the local gardens, certain death for the fish, most of which are threatened species, and an increase in the amount of water which floods the Whanganui river in heavy rains. What We Propose Two months ago, a representative from Horizons visited the owners of two small areas of this land, and the primary school whose property borders one side of it. The ideas outlined by one land owner and agreed to by the representative were to preserve and protect the swamp areas and native forest, while removing the introduced trees (mostly large poplar, willow and japanese walnut). The stopbank would be cleared of all vegetation (currently smothered with walnut, blackberry and a small amount of flax), as the trees growing off it pose the risk of tearing loose a section of bank in major flooding. The area would then be utilized and maintained by the school, who would mow the grass, keep the stopbank clear of growth, and use the area for studies on our native habitats, flora and fauna. This sounded like a brilliant proposal and the group of local residents who use the area most were excited to see how it progressed. However, when two months had passed without the promised return visit by Horizons to update us on their progress, we became concerned and contacted the council to find out what was going on. It was at this stage we were told of their new plan, due to start in just a few weeks. Now the fight is on, with a quickly growing group of concerned residents outraged at what is planned and determined to save this precious spot.

i'll help you out by taking it off your hands for free? hehe

never heard any or seen any signs. Wrote a list of all the birds we've noticed though, tui ruru faintails titipounamu kingfishers kereru the fans, tui and ruru nest there too, don't know about the others. No doubt there's heaps more birds too who have escaped our notice.

you sure it doesn't just need new bulbs?

so i should start paying the rates on it somehow? I wish lol

regional council is involved as its 'flood protection work', between the swamp and our houses is a big stop bank for floods. Good idea i'll email doc The council knew exactly what we wanted and thought, when we spoke to them several times 2 months ago they were all for keeping the swamp and just removing the pest trees. I'm very glad that i didn't trust them and rang up for an update, otherwise i wouldn't have known what was happening until the contractors arrived. And had also mentioned my concerns to a few other locals

i'm going to go to the council in the morning and see what i can find out, and book an appointment to see the mayor about it. The privately owned part is land that was marked as sections in about 1900, when the rest of the town was chopped up and sold, but there's no record of anyone ever owning those ones. There was supposed to be 5 sections behind ours, then a road, then the river, but before that happened the river moved slightly and now flows where the road is supposed to be. Its still a paper road on the district maps etc, and on our lim report. We own one chunk of the land, covering the back of our house and the neighbours, and another neighbour own the next piece, then the rest is unaccounted for, the council would love to know if someone does own it so they can start collecting rates lol.

and here's "our" swamp, if you haven't seen it Its a shame its too early in the year for the birds to be nesting, a few pics of the tuis and fantails breeding in those trees would surely stand in their favour.

the cabbage trees will all be removed and single row of them planted at the end along the edge of the river, for 'asthetic apeal'. here's a shot of one of the big ones thats there now which they want gone

have tried to ring our local doc, but there's no one there today, will try another office when i get a ph card for the toll call :-? no resource consents or anything are needed, because its partly private land (ours and neighbours) and partly land they can't trace an owner for. I went through and photographed every native i could find, there's so many lovely big cabbage trees, nikaus etc there. Also working on marking them all on the aireal map of it. All the tuis, faintails etc that visit our house live and breed there, where would they go without it

Yah! At last! I kept getting an error so i couldn't reply :evil: Their plan to get rid of the swamp is to raise the whole level of the land 1/2-1metre. Just been reading that wetlands site and the doc one, lots of good stuff there thanks, then i had a look at the horizons site (horizons is the regional council doing this) and they had a huge amount of info on the importance of swamps and wetlands, and about how wonderful they are at protecting them (two faced liers). Neighbours are all angry about it, and ready to stop any council person getting anywhere near the place Will be talking to someone at the local paper to see if we can convince them to do a story on it, and i'm going fishing later to see what i can find living there. Big thanks for all the suggestions, i'll use them all and we're determined to stop this

been trying to post all day but it wont work...

Just spoke to the council man and i am fuming! :evil: :evil: :evil: Their new plan is to clear every tiny peice of vegetation, fill in all the swampland, raise the level of the land and eventually replant a little strip of cabbage trees. That means our precious little swamp will go, all the native bush there will go, and we'll have a grassy paddock left. Its being promoted as flood protection work but the main motivation is to have a nice grassy feild that the school will maintain. What can we do? There's me and two neighbours who are up in arms over this, and will be talking to everyone they can in town about it, and one of them is going to arrange some iwi support, but anyone have any ideas for an action plan? They want to start clearing it next month, and i'm sure we can at least stall them with the people we have until they take a better look at things.

the yumminess deserves a fancy name? i'll have to try it

that sounds awful, you certainly have my sympathies So where's the pics?

i've got some bare bottom breeding tanks which don't need to be, but i have them that way to make it quicker to clean. My 'display' tanks all have substrate but i might have a go at a false floor type thing like pheonix's next time, it looks pretty cool I have been thinking of putting black plastic or paint or something under my bare tanks, because the bright white poly doesn't look too appealing and i think the fish might adjust their colour like they do with black gravel. Anyone done this?

welcome

luvley

some of those animates adds are the funniest, the ones i get in the mail. They'll show a 60L tank or something with giant fish photoshoped into it, so the tetras are like 10cm long. I always want to take the add in and ask for some that size lol.

my smallest is 9L, which is this boys home <---- just big enough for him

lol i like that description

4 goldfish?! no wonder there's so many auctions like that goldy one above, when the stores are encouraging people to do it.

hate to say it, but you should go through and cull all the ones that aren't perfectly straight. Otherwise they'll just continue having bent babies. bikbok yours looks ok