CLIENT: Hurunui District Landcare Group (HDLG)
EXPERT: James Lambie (Lambie Ecology)
About this resource
James Lambie (Lambie Ecology) recently supported HDLG, who sought to understand existing stream health in their catchment and how to assess catchment health going forward.
As part of this support, a series of stream walks were organised with a freshwater expert to provide training on monitoring techniques such as the Stream Health Monitoring Kit (SHMAK), assessment of riparian margins, erosion prone areas, stream bed composition, and collection of water quality samples. The data collected during the demonstrations at was compiled into a project summary report for the HDLG.
The report summarised information from 22 sites across 10 rivers, and included:
- Water quality data (nitrogen, phosphorus, E. coli, macroinvertebrate abundance, conductivity)
- eDNA results
- Physical feature assessments (e.g. periphyton growth, shading, streambed composition)
Data was used to give each site a stream health score from ‘poor’ to ‘excellent’, and possible next steps were provided. Lessons learned on the training process and opportunities for school involvement were also discussed.
This report can be viewed here (PDF, 562.09 kB).
Credits
This case was completed thanks to HDLG, Hurunui landowners, and James Lambie (Lambie Ecology).