Lower Oreti Catchment Group
Read our Catchment Group Summary
Your Catchment Group Coordinator
Sarah Thorne
027 588 5200
sarah@thrivingsouthland.co.nz
Catchment Group Contact
Stacey Stuart
021 566 229
Projects
Understand NAIT traceability, animal welfare and how to protect your Primary Industry Evening
Know Our Catchment – issues and actions workshop, Understanding International Farming Communities
About Us
Lower Oreti Catchment Group is a practical, community-minded group started in 2021 to support our local community come together to look after our environment and waterways.
The group came together to take action - not just talk - and after four years of really good on farm field days and working with Dr Clint Rissmann to understand our catchment and its water quality, we’ve just started our local stream health monitoring project.
Lower Oreti is all about helping each other and doing stuff that is useful to our catchment and the local community. Our events bring people together to share knowledge and skills, access expert advice and information.
We are really proud of what we have achieved so far and plan to keep up the good work through good conversations, field days and local projects.
Catchment Area
The Lower Oreti Catchment Group covers the flat and gently undulating alluvial terraces on the lower reaches of the Oreti River catchment, from Drain Road in the north down to Ferry Road in the South, and borders the Waimatuku catchment in the west, Mid Oreti to the north and the Hedgehope-Makarewa catchment in the east.
Our main surface water catchments are the lower Oreti and Makarewa Rivers, Waianiwa Creek, Otakau Creek and the Tomoporakau Creek.
Recent Events
The group have just put up our first roadside sign, which is doing a great job at sparking interest and support from the wider community. We put a lot of thought into designing it. The yellow is the local colour for Waianiwa, and the maroon is colour for Southland. Our section of the Oreti River winds across the sign, and the Cabbage Tree is an important emblem for our area and is part of a lot of our local historic signs and documents.
It was a team effort to put the sign up – many thanks Stacey, Callum, Graham and Kevin - and we have been amazed with how well it has gone down with our local community, and all the new followers joining our Lower Oreti Catchment Group Facebook page since it went up.
Projects
Stream Health Monitoring in the Upper Catchment
Lower Oreti celebrated a major milestone with the launch of their first stream health monitoring project. This is a hands-on project designed to build baseline data on their local waterways, and track changes over time.
With support from Environment Southland, Thriving Southland and DairyNZ, Eliza, Charlie and Stacey assessed three sites in the upper catchment, measuring water clarity, macroinvertebrates, eDNA, and habitat quality using SHMAK (Stream Health Monitoring assessment Kit) and Rapid Habitat Assessment tools.
This project was an important one for the group, and is the start of long-term waterway monitoring providing great local information for the group and local landowners and community groups. Plans are already underway to expand the assessments to three more sites in the lower catchment next year, and then we can repeat them every 5, 10, or 15 years to track changes and help with future decisions and actions.
Lower Oreti Catchment Group roadside sign to raise awareness and boost community engagement
Local wet area/ wetlands project maps with Land & Water Science
Understand NAIT traceability, animal welfare and how to protect you Primary Industry evening
Wintering Field Day - kale and multi species
Co hosted Mid & Lower Oreti Bus Trip
Wonderful Wetland Visit (Gavin Macpherson’s) & Christmas BBQ & Lawn Bowls Social
Know Your Catchment Issues & Actions Workshop and Community Meeting & Potential mitigations discussion with Clint Rissmann
Thriving Southland is a community-led group with a vision to create a prosperous Southland, healthy people, healthy environment from the mountains to the sea.
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CONTACT US
25 Don Street,
Invercargill 9810
