Strategy for northern lakes
Science Centres: Aquatic Biodiversity and Biosecurity
NIWA scientist Brian Sorrell surveys a fen in the upper Freshwater Valley, Stewart Island. [Photo: Alastair Suren, NIWA]
Northland has numerous lakes that lie behind sand dunes along the coast, or were dammed by past lava flows. They harbour rare and endangered native plants and fish, as well as some of the last remaining examples of native lake communities in the country.
We are helping the Northland Regional Council to identify values associated with the lakes in its region and to implement a lakes management strategy. Recently, NIWA and regional council staff surveyed 58 lakes to document their values, and establish baseline conditions of water quality for highly valued lakes. We used various techniques to check the ecological condition of the lakes, including NIWA’s LakeSPI (Lake Submerged Plant Indicator) tool. We also looked for any biosecurity or other threats to the lakes.
The lakes will be ranked, and the strategy will spell out which lakes need to be monitored in the future, for what, and how often.