Restoration Ecology

Our multi-disciplinary team brings together terrestrial and aquatic ecologists, natural resource engineers and water quality scientists. We design programmes that create and enhance functioning natural systems for ecosystem, habitat or species management, amenity and landscape restoration, and for environmental services such as stormwater and flood control.

Our specialist areas include development of environmental mitigation options for infrastructure projects and industry and site-based restoration management including revegetation, freshwater and marine restoration and wildlife management. As well as practical plan development T&T has a track record of producing quality services for policy, strategy and management programme development.

Expertise
Key skills areas include:

• Strategic planning
• Ecological engineering and design
• Land and habitat restoration
• Revegetation programmes
• Terrestrial ecology evaluation
• Marine and freshwater ecology
• Wetland development
• Flora and fauna surveys.

Experience
Relevant projects include:

Land Restoration – site assessment, options planning and preparation of restoration management plans. Examples include:

• Seaside Park - a collaboration between engineers, environmental planners and ecologists to produce a triple award-winning recreational and biodiversity conservation resource for urban dwellers. This 18 ha rehabilitated closed landfill now boasts playing fields, a coastal walkway and a wildlife management area comprising planted native forest, purpose-built lizard habitats and wetland and shore-bird refuge areas.
• NZ Steel Landfill - covering 31 ha of degraded streams and farmland, this landfill involved an assessment of environmental effects and options for mitigation. Ecological components included the development of restoration options for adjoining degraded riparian areas, coastal margins and remnant coastal forest patches.

Riparian Restoration - site management plans for the restoration of riparian habitats to improve stream health, manage stormwater flows or provide essential habitats for native species, including:

• Wainui Stream enhancement project, Taharoa - restoring riparian areas and enhancing whitebait spawning areas.
• Olympic Park development, Auckland - provided woody debris weirs and log overhangs to increase physical and hydraulic habitat diversity for native fish.

Stream Restoration - Cross discipline planning to produce fully eco-engineered aquatic environments. The Mangakotukutuku Stream restoration project transformed a degraded channel into a 1.3 km ecological corridor supporting a diversity of stream habitats and riparian plantings. This project won the IPENZ Arthur Mead Environmental Premier Award in 2007.

For more information please contact Graham Ussher .

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