First river wetland opened in the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor
Christchurch City Council Newsline: 10th March 2025
A new habitat for native fish and birds has been created in the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor (OARC), after the first OARC wetland was opened.
The Council removed the sheet metal pilings north of Pages Road Bridge at Waitaki Street to allow tidal river waters in. The waters now create a two-hectare tidal wetland.
Residential Red Zone Manager Dave Little said the river can now flow into low-lying areas, which helps to restore some of the river’s natural floodplain function.
The new wetland will accommodate the river’s tidal movement and floodwaters to reduce pressure on the main river channel.
It will also create an intertidal zone that is a particularly rich environment for native plants and animals.
The wetland has been left to re-establish native vegetation naturally instead of being planted.
Mr Little says this is the Council’s evolving approach to re-establishing saline habitats, as it results in a more resilient ecosystem and is cheaper to establish.
“The salty water will kill off the exotic grasses that don’t like salt and drop off native seeds that will establish in conditions that suit them, without having to worry about competition from exotics.”
Previous examples of this include the saline wetlands at Tunnel Road and Charlesworth Reserve.
Mr Little says restoration of the river’s delta environment is a core objective of the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor Regeneration Plan and one that the Council works closely with Treaty partner Te Ngāi Tūāhuriri on.
“The ‘living on a river delta’ philosophy sees us working with the river, rather than attempting to constrain it to accommodate our plans. This is important as the future impacts of sea level rise and more extreme weather make inundation of low-lying areas more likely, and increasingly expensive to prevent.”
Mr Little says the wetland is the first to be opened to the river in the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor, with the second under construction at Avon Park.
The Avon Park wetland is expected to be opened around the middle of the year.
Over time, the Council plans to open ten wetlands to the river, ranging in size from around 2ha to approximately 60ha.