Background
Ilam and Okeover Streams and Avon River all flow through the University of Canterbury. Together, they represent a sub-catchment within the city and are distinctive landscape features of the university campus.
Why the need for rehabilitation?
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| Ilam Stream c. 1920s (photo: W.A. Taylor Collection, Canterbury Museum). |
Up until the 1990s, drainage by European settlers of what was predominantly wetland and the increasing development of Christchurch had degraded waterways in the city, including the three waterways flowing through the University. With increasing urban development and creation of impermeable surfaces such as roads and houses, many of the natural groundwater springs have dried up. Meanwhile stream flows have been supplemented by artificial inputs, for example, car park runoff and building discharges which have inherently poorer water quality. Grassy lawns and exotic deciduous trees had replaced native forest and wetland vegetation alongside the campus streams, while building developments and the traditional maintenance practices of mowing lawn to the edges of stream banks and clearing aquatic vegetation from the streambeds have resulted in extensive in-stream siltation. The combined effect of all the above factors has been a loss of aquatic and riparian habitat, a decline in plant and animal species diversity, and an overall loss of intrinsic natural character.
The UC Waterways project
In
1996, a student initiative led to what is now a collaborative waterways
project involving academic and general staff of the university, students
from the campus environment club, and the Christchurch City Council. The
project aimed initially to revegetate the banks of the Avon River to attract
native birds and provide a ‘green corridor’ linking areas of
native bush in the vicinity. However, as the project developed, its aims
broadened to the current overall goal of restoring the ecology and diversity
of all three waterways, for all to enjoy.
In addition to detailed ecological goals, the campus waterways project has a spectrum of social goals, including raising awareness and appreciation within the University and the local community of the campus streams; enhancing people’s understanding of the streams’ physical processes, species, communities, and ecosystem functioning; and increasing participation in developing the vision for the waterways.
Core Team
Within
the current core team, City
Council staff work with the University on the overall implementation
of the project, supply landscape design and some rehabilitation
costs, and maintain the stream/river beds. Students from the campus environment
club provide their time and help grounds staff plant new riparian areas.
UC grounds staff maintain the stream and river banks. Facilities
Management staff coordinate and promote the project with the City
Council and contribute towards development costs for new rehabilitation
stages. Finally, staff and students from the Freshwater
Ecology Research Group (School
of Biological Sciences) and the Natural
Resources Engineering programme (Civil
Engineering) guide the scientific basis of the restoration,
monitor the waterways to document physical and ecological changes
following rehabilitation efforts, and integrate
campus waterways issues into relevant
courses and research.