Date: 27th July 2026
With winter finally in full swing, it’s good to take a step back and have a look at why conservation and Whakatipu Reforestation Trust’s work is important. So far, the Trust has supported work restoring wetlands at Slopehill Reserve, Shotover Wetland, Lake Hayes south and Matakauri wetland, so let’s take a look at why they matter and an exciting new monitoring project aiming to better understand a species they support.
Wetlands are crucial for filtering nitrates and sediment out of water. Excess nitrates can cause algal plagues in our waterways in a process called eutrophication. Many of you will already be familiar with this process if you’ve tried to swim at Lake Hayes mid-summer. Wetlands also act as a giant sponge, absorbing excess water during heavy rain and releasing this water during times of drought, which reduces the climate extremes.
As well as water, wetlands also store a huge amount of carbon in the ground. As of 2021, freshwater wetlands around New Zealand store an estimated 167 megatonnes of carbon1. On the other hand, degraded and drained wetlands can cause carbon to rise into the atmosphere2. This means restoring and creating new wetlands is an excellent way to mitigate climate change.
Many people walk through these wetlands without realising their potential and important role in the ecosystem. Wetlands are often home to rare wildlife, like long-finned eels, New Zealand fernbird, and marsh crakes. Marsh crakes are one of the many “hidden residents” creeping deep in healthy wetlands. Because of their reliance on thriving wetlands, they will be the centrepiece of the Whakatipu Wildlife Trust’s new monitoring project aiming to better understand how habitat restoration impacts their populations.
1, 2National Wetlands Trust of New Zealand. (2021). Submission on the Climate Change Commission’s 2021 Draft Advice: Technical Summary. Retrieved from wetlandtrust.org.nz
Marsh crakes, or Kotoreke, are small 15cm birds with chestnut-brown backs and black and white streaking across their sides. This perfectly camouflages into its wetland habitat. Like many other species in Aotearoa, they are perfectly adapted to avian predation. As a result, they’re rarely heard and even more rarely seen, opting for a secretive life in the depths of raupo and carex beds. When they finally decide to show their face to the open sky, their perfect camouflage allows them to avoid falcons, harriers, and prior to human settlement, eagles. Now though, mammalian predation is one of the significant problems this species faces. Lucky passersby may be able to watch this miniature pukeko-like bird, on the margins of its wetland habitat. Because of their secretive nature, we don’t know much about their behaviour, breeding or even have an accurate idea of their population in New Zealand—much less our basin.
This new project aims to understand how planting and predator control could help restore our wetlands and marsh crake populations. As part of the project, we’ll be monitoring four sites around the Whakatipu basin for marsh crake `- all of which are Whakatipu Reforestation Trust planting sites.
Lake Hayes south is a well established wetland with a known population of marsh crakes so we’ll gain a deeper understanding into the challenges they may face at this site..
Shotover Wetland has been restored by Shotover Primary School with the support of Whakatipu Reforestation Trust, Queenstown Airport and Queenstown-Lakes District Council. Students have helped plant almost 5000 native plants at this seven hectare site. Excitingly, marsh crakes were first sighted there last year in 2025 indicating this wetland is well on its way to being restored.
Preliminary monitoring has just revealed a marsh crake in Matakauri Wetland for the first time and we are excited to better understand this previously unknown population over the course of the project.
Finally, Slopehill has been identified as a wetland with significant habitat potential but no marsh crake population just yet. With 14,000 riparian natives planted at this site, it’s just a matter of time before marsh crakes settle there.
Because Marsh crakes are so reliant on healthy wetlands, their presence is inversely a good sign of wetland health. Like their closest New Zealand relative, the spotless crake, marsh crake rely on a variety of invertebrates and aquatic plants to thrive. By planting, we can rebuild the food source for the invertebrates of our wetlands allowing those high trophic species, like the marsh crake, to thrive. Plants such as Carex secta also filter water, which helps create an environment where these producers can thrive and allow other species to thrive as well. A thriving marsh crake population is a result of restoring the entire wetland ecosystem therefore monitoring is a great way of learning more about this species and wetland health.
Marsh crakes are not the only ones benefiting from restored wetlands. Many other native species such as grey duck, Australasian bittern and red damselfly need these habitats too.
Volunteers have always been at the heart of community projects and in this monitoring project we’ll also be utilising our citizen scientists. But just as important as watching out for our marsh crake is continuing to restore their habitat and support their populations. There are many ways you can help our little crakes out.
The Whakatipu Reforestation Trust will be holding its bi-annual round of community planting days this September – including at our Slopehill wetland site. We’d love for you to join us! These drop-in sessions are where the community helps put plants in the ground. Afternoon tea is provided including yummy snacks and hot drinks. For details go to: https://wrtqt.org.nz/community-planting-days/
From Wednesday July 29th, we’ll also be holding our weekly community nursery sessions where you can help grow wetland plants such as flax and carex secta that will rebuild these wetland habitats. No experience is needed for these drop-in sessions. For details go to: https://wrtqt.org.nz/community-nursery/
If you want to know more about the marsh crake monitoring project, feel free to contact Whakatipu Wildlife Trust at their website: https://whakatipuwildlifetrust.org.nz/bird-monitoring/
Posted in: Latest News
Tags: marsh crake, reforestation, whakatipu
