Philippa Stevenson: Working together redeems a peat lake

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Andrew and Jenny Hayes with two of their sons, Fred and Rodney. Picture / Greg Bowker

Lake Kaituna is the little lake that could.

Hope floats on this speck of peaty water on the outskirts of Hamilton.

Amid the ignorance, neglect, good intentions gone bad and just plain stupidity that have left lakes up and down the country drying up or dying out, Lake Kaituna has a promising comeback story.

After contemplating the unhappy case of Lake Ngaroto, which now hosts a permanent toxic algal bloom despite - some say because of - a more than $1 million restoration project, it is a joy to witness signs of successful reclamation at Lake Kaituna.

Both are part of a chain of 38, 17,000-year-old Waikato peat lakes that are remnants of a once great, 60,000ha wetland.

Lake Kaituna, also known as Lake B, is one of a cluster of eight lakes at Horsham Downs just north of Hamilton, which vary in size from 6ha to 33ha.

Today, from their lounge windows, Andrew and Jenny Hayes have a spectacular view of three Horsham Downs lakes - the popular recreational playground, Lake D or Kainui, their "own" Lake Kaituna, and tiny, downstream Lake Komakorau.

In 1981, when the Hayes bought their first 40ha, Horsham Downs dairy farm, there was no lake view - just a dense cluster of self-seeded willow trees.

As they expanded their farm to 80ha - completely surrounding Kaituna and forming a long border with Komakorau - they watched the two Department of Conservation-administered lakes die before their eyes.

The willows suppressed all plant life, their leaves fouled the water but, as elsewhere, nutrient-rich runoff from farms was the chief contributor to the lakes' demise. Healthy peat lakes are highly acidic and fed only by rain and groundwater seeping through surrounding swamp.

Encouraged by a restoration project they were involved in at Lake D, the Hayes decided to see what could be done for "their" lake.

In 1999, they began removing the willows and a year later the Lake Kaituna Care Group was formed with DoC, Environment Waikato and duck shooters.

The key to accomplishing things, said Andrew Hayes, had been getting everyone working together, doing the work in manageable chunks, and patience.

"Let nature tell you what it wants, when you understand what that is, then go for it."

The Hayes, including sons Alastair, Derek, Rodney and Fred, DoC staff and digger operator Bruce Gavin, removed willows carefully to leave any native plants standing.

The entire 20ha lake was fenced off from the farm, and all gates were removed to ensure stock weren't mistakenly allowed in.

An access track was made around the reserve's outer ring and in a few places into the wetland to allow access for weed control and planting. The family identifies any sizeable native plants they find with stakes so they don't get sprayed with weedkiller, and pot up small seedlings, which they return to the reserve when grown.

Drains no longer run directly into the lake but seep through the swampy lake edge, in some cases pooling into small ponds to allow silt to settle.

In just five years, the lake's transformation has been dramatic. Cabbage trees, native rushes and grasses are flourishing in the earliest cleared areas and even making a comeback in the parts cleared this year.

Kahikatea, kowhai and manuka are reappearing, and the lake is alive with ducks, shags, pukeko, bitterns, geese, swans, and fantails.

At Lake Ngaroto, a sign inviting visitors "to get up close and personal with a wetland" is redundant. The $1 million "wetland" built by the Waipa District Council is little more than a manuka woodlot beside a toxic stew fed by farm drains unchecked by Environment Waikato. Concerned and frustrated locals such as duck shooter Murray Dench are in despair.

But with care, dedication and around $32,000, the Lake Kaituna Care Group has created a thriving wetland that's a delight to be close to.

Oddly, the people and organisations involved in Kaituna are similar to those at Ngaroto.

What produced such a startlingly different result?

After a couple of hours with the enthusiastic Hayes family, I was left in no doubt.

We owe Kaituna's improving health to Andrew, the practical dairy farmer who once dreamed of being a conservation ranger, his quietly spoken wife Jenny, whose vegetable garden shrinks to make way for kahikatea seedlings, and their environmentally aware and hardworking sons.

* Email Philippa Stevenson