New Zealand’s rivers are not in the best shape. 62% of monitored lowland rivers are not safe to swim in, even the fish have disappeared. Instead of the clean rocky river beds, we now have silt which does not support food or habitat for fish. Over the years, we cleared lowland forest to make way for settlements, farming, forestry and agricultural land. These trees provided shade, structural habitat and strength to river banks keeping the river healthy to support an abundance of life.
The health of our waterways affects all New Zealanders, and we would like to see the quality of our lowland waterways improved to see the natural ecosystem thrive and allow future generations to enjoy our rivers and streams. To get our waterways back into shape the solution is to restore the banks of our streams, river and lakes with riparian planting which we believe is worth investing in.
We are supporting Wai Wanaka’s Cardrona Kaitaki project in Otago by sponsoring 100m of riparian planting through the Million Meters organisation by Sustainable Business Network. In an area that has provided us with years of enjoyment in fishing, we want to help restore and protect the lowland rivers and get them back to an abundant life force.
Find out more about the project and others like this with Million Metres Streams Project or watch our video here.