Waihou River ecosystem services assessment

Report: TR 2018/10

Author: Brenda R Baillie & Richard T Yao (Scion)

About this report

The Waikato Regional Council (WRC) is undertaking an ecosystem services (ES) approach to identify, value, quantify and describe the freshwater ES in the Waikato Region. This project is contributing to Objective 3.8 of the Waikato Regional Policy Statement (RPS) which relates to ES, defined as “the range of services associated with natural resources and are recognised and maintained or enhanced to enable their ongoing contribution to regional wellbeing” (Waikato Regional Council, 2016).

In Phase 1 of this project, a pilot study was undertaken in the Waikato River catchment to assess the freshwater ES provided by a sample of river, stream, lake and wetland sites within the catchment. Scion completed the assessment of the freshwater ES for the river and stream component of the project. In Phase 2, the project has been extended into the Waihou River catchment and Scion has been contracted by WRC to complete a similar ES evaluation.

The Waihou River has a catchment area of 198,769 ha. The spring-fed headwaters originate in the Mamaku Plateau and the river flows in a northerly direction through the townships of Te Aroha and Paeroa and across the Hauraki Plains before emptying into the Firth of Thames. High producing exotic grassland is the dominant land-use in the catchment (57%). Indigenous vegetation (28%) is confined mainly to Kaimai-Mamaku Ranges along the eastern edge of the catchment, with most of the exotic forest located in the catchment headwaters (10%).

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Waihou River ecosystem services assessment [PDF, 2.1 MB]