Quick Dips

Wading in Waterways

During winter, when most people are thinking of putting their feet up in front of the fire, postgraduate student Kim Morland was up to her knees and elbows in freezing water and spiky plants. She was undertaking work for a Masters of Applied Science from Lincoln, examining the environmental ranges of plants along Christchurch's waterways.

Some of her work has been undertaken as a one-year research project for local company Boffa Miskell, part-funded by a Graduate Research in Industry Fellowship. Morland's task was to determine the appropriate native vegetation for particular areas, and to assist Boffa Miskell's environmental design, planning and ecology consultancy in developing and enhancing urban streams to sound environmental and ecological principles. She carried out a detailed research programme which involved sampling at various sites and analysing variables like soil chemistry, depth of water and surrounding vegetation.

The result of her study, according to Morland, is reassurance that "sound science" is behind environmental recommendations. For Boffa Miskell, the research confirmed many of the consultancy's "gut feelings" and allowed the company to undertake statistically relevant research that would not have been possible, or economical, without the Fellowship.

Very little of the city's waterways remain in original condition, notes Morland, with introduced plants being distributed along the riverbanks and tributaries either naturally or through plantings and gardening programmes. Morland hopes that an awareness of local plant types and their ranges will provide assistance in developing sustainable plantings that require less maintenance than often inappropriately located species.

The work has provided a glimpse into Canterbury's ecological past as Morland traced once-extant streams now buried, looked at changes in the water table and plant species, and examined the floods, fire and settlement, both Maori and Pakeha, that have affected the region.

Morland notes that it is more than just an ecological interest. Social and urban concerns also enter into waterway restoration, such as whether local species should be chosen over introduced -- a potentially contentious issue in what is sometimes described as New Zealand's "most English" of cities.