The Department of Conservation (DOC) says the Whangamarino Wetlands in Waikato have proven to be more resilient than expected, after a large fire in October last year.
The fire burned through about 1000 hectares of peatland in one of the few remaining raised peatlands in the Southern Hemisphere.
DOC ranger Lizzie Sharp said the damage could have been much worse, were it not for the healthy state of the peatland – which had relatively high water levels when the fire broke out.
“The hydrology of that central bog was wet and intact and healthy, and that meant that there was a higher water level within the central bog, preventing a deeper burn, which really saved a lot of vegetation and carbon loss.”
However, Sharp said the fire still caused significant damage to the upper layers of the wetland, resulting in the loss of habitat for threatened species.
“The shallowness of the fire means that we have rhizomes (underground stems) from the native plants and also seed source, so that recovery will be helped by having that already out there at the site, so it’s really hopeful.”
Whangamarino was an internationally recognised wetland of significance covering almost 7000ha, with swamps, fens, peatland bogs and open water around the Whangamarino and Maramarua rivers. It had been designated a Ramsar Convention on Wetlands site of international importance in recognition of its outstanding biodiversity
FENZ incident commander Mark Tinworth said at the time, the fire had a perimeter of 10km.
According to Waikato Regional Council, the wetland was also the scene of two fires in the 1980s. Those destroyed 57% of the vegetation and left large areas vulnerable to introduced plants.
Sharp said the loss of biodiversity caused by the latest fire would probably take decades to recover.
rnz.co.nz
