Rare peat bog ecosystem protected in Southland
15 Oct 2007
The New Zealand Government has made an important ecological investment by purchasing an area of peat bog in western Southland.
Conservation Minister Chris Carter says the Bayswater peat bog is one of the largest remnants of native vegetation on the Southland plains. But changing land use, for example, with increased dairy farming in the region, was adversely affecting the bog’s ecosystem, its conservation values and the local peat bog flora and fauna.
The purchase by the Government’s Nature Heritage Fund (NHF) has added an additional 318 hectares of peat bog to the Bayswater Scenic Reserve on the western Southland plains. The NHF provides financial assistance to public agencies and private individuals to purchase or covenant land with high conservation values.
''Peat bogs are historically a distinctive part of the ecological character of Southland but in recent years they have been coming under increasing pressure from land development. What’s left of the region’s peat bogs has now become a conservation priority,'' says Carter.
Good quality peat bogs capture carbon from the atmosphere and store it, and in this way can act as a carbon sink for long periods of time. ''By adding to the protected part of the peat bog, the long-term viability of this site is assured; it’s now big enough to function in a natural state,'' says Carter.
Bayswater farmer Roy Burnett, one of three adjoining former landowners, said he was pleased to see the peat bog and a significant source of freshwater water protected. ''I’m thrilled that the fund has done this as it means the bog will always remain in its natural state.''
In October 1993 the Department of Conservation had purchased one-quarter of the bog for protection. This acquisition brings three-quarters of the entire bog under protection.
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