Vegetation Survey of the Tarawera River and Environs, North Island, New Zealand

Abstract

In response to a request by the PoJlution Advisory Council, the vegetation of the Tarawera River was surveyed before the Tasman Pulp and Paper Mill at Kawerau began discharging effluent into the river late in 1955.After complaints in 1956 that efTluent was affecting plants in the river, two brief foJlow-up surveys were made in June and July of that year. Flooding clearly had affected the distribution of water plants, and beds of watercress (Nasturtium sp.) had been buried by silt. Because of changes caused by floods no conclusions about the short-term effect of effluent could be drawn. The survey included aquatic vegetation, and the vegetation on islands, berms, and stop-banks. These latter two were included because both play an important role in confining the river to its bed and their stability depends on the plant cover. AUTHORS' NOTEIn 1955 Botany Division. DSIR was asked by the Pollution Advisory Council to report on the vegetation of the Tarawera River before the Tasman Pulp and Paper MiIl at Kawerau began operations in the second half of 1955 and discharged effluent into the river. The field work was done between 26 May 1955 and 2 June 1955 by N.T.M. and just over a year later, between 9 and 10 June 1956 and on 24 July, brief follow-up surveys were made by B.T.C. in response to complaints that pollutants were already affecting vegetation in the river, particularly watercress (Nasturtium sp.). Effluent was then being discharged directly into the river because a holding pond had coJlapsed and was not functioning. During the follow-up surveys the sites recorded in 1955 were located and any

Neville Taylor Moar BSc, MSc, PhD (Cant.), 31 July 1926–1 June 2016

“…He also assisted Ruth Mason in a major study of wetlands (1949)(1950)(1951)(1952)(1953)(1954)(1955)(1956)(1957)(1958)(1959)(1960), taking part in surveys of Northland, Waikato, Nelson, Westland and Southland. Independently he surveyed the Tarawera River in the Bay of Plenty (Moar & Cunningham 1975) and peatlands on the Chatham Islands, and wetlands in the Cook Islands.…”