Taiari Catchment

The Taiari / Taieri River is New Zealand’s fourth longest river at 288 km. Originating from the Lammerlaw Range, it flows north, then east around the Rock and Pillar Range before turning southeast, reaching the sea 30 km south of Dunedin at Taieri Mouth.

The great age of the Taiari / Taieri catchment has allowed plenty of time for species to evolve in isolation from each other – on widely-separated mountain tops or in streams and rivers held apart by ranges. That is likely the reason there are such an extraordinary amount of different species of lizards, fish and invertebrates in the catchment.

The Taiari is one of the biological powerhouses of mainland New Zealand; it is woven with native vegetation communities that make it unique and is home to a number of rare plants and animals, some of which are not known from anywhere else. However, much of this biodiversity is under threat through the actions of pests, weeds, and now also a changing climate.

The actions taken by land managers in the Taiari / Taieri directly affect the future sustainability of the catchment’s biodiversity – a natural resource that provides much of our drinking water, helps buffer our communities from flood and drought, and provides natural areas for people and our flora and fauna.