Controlled burning success means numbers of the nationally critical swamp helmet orchid (Corybas carsei) are well above the target to start research.
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DOC Ranger Jane Hughes explores and measures the secretive world of the Whangamarino Wetland.
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Twice a year Stella McQueen arrives in her campervan at Whangamarino Wetland to count fernbirds/mātātāa and spotless crake/pūweto for four hours every dawn and dusk.
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Anyone who thinks swamps and bogs are merely dirty puddles of water to avoid at all costs is missing out on hidden treasure! DOC’s Jack Van Hal explains…
The swamp helmet orchid, otherwise known as Corybas carsei, loves life in the bog. Once upon a time it could be found in several bogs, but today these little beauties occur only in one site, in one peat bog within the Whangamarino Wetlands in the Waikato.
Swamp eye view
It is a tiny nationally critical orchid, only 10-30 mm tall at flowering, which has suffered from orchid thieves and wetland drainage.
The single remaining population at Whangamarino is currently at risk from vegetation succession within its preferred habitat, among open sedge and wire rush.
Corybas beauty
The flower is a conspicuous maroon-red in colour and is raised above a single leaf. It appears from September through to November. It is such a rare thing that New Zealand Geographic recently came to photograph it for an article, but they were not allowed to identify its exact location.
New Zealand Geographic photographer, George Novak, on assignment at Whangamarino
At Whangamarino, DOC staff have been managing the threats to this little beauty and monitoring shows that numbers have increased from a low of 77 individuals in 2008 to 195 individuals by 2011.
Rangers have been helping to create disturbance regimes by controlled burns to promote growth of the orchid.
Controlled burn of Corybas carsai habitat
Other management and research options being explored include translocations to appropriate habitat within and to other nearby wetlands, and time lapse photography to determine how the orchids are pollinated and what time of year they flower and produce seed.
Thanks to the concerted effort under the Arawai Kākāriki wetland restoration programme the plight of Corybas carsei looks promising.
By Jack Van Hal, Delivery Planner Biodiversity
Yesterday (2 February) was World Wetlands Day. To celebrate, we’re putting the spotlight on Whangamarino Wetland in the Waikato.
Whangamarino Wetland in the Waikato
World Wetlands Day is held every year, on February 2, to mark the signing of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and the Day provides an opportunity to highlight the important role wetlands play in our environment.
Wetlands play an important role in the environment
Whangamarino Wetland is one of the largest swamp and peat dome wetland complexes in the country at 7,000 hectares. A Ramsar site since 1989, the wetland is also important to Waikato-Tainui people as recognised in the Waikato River Settlement.
Australasian bittern/matuku, black mudfish and swamp helmet orchid are just some of the threatened species thriving in the wetland. Other species include marsh and spotless crakes, fern birds, dabchicks and various gamebirds, making it a popular spot for game-bird hunting.
Mudfish
However, the wetland faces a number of threats, including excessive inflows of sediment and nutrients from the wider catchment, altered water levels due to the lower Waikato River Flood Scheme, predators, stock trampling and weeds. Despite these threats, large areas of raised peat bog remain in good condition, supporting communities of threatened wetland plants.
DOC has been implementing innovative wetland conservation initiatives at Whangamarino Wetland under the Arawai Kākāriki wetland restoration programme.
Kayaking through the wetland
