Skip to main content

Staff in our Whitianga and Paeroa offices will be working but the offices closed for public enquiries from 4.30pm on Thursday, 17 April until 8am on Monday, 28 April. If you require urgent assistance during this time, please phone 0800 800 401.

Close alert

Extent of freshwater wetlands

TR 2022/19

Report: TR 2022/19

Authors: Karen Denyer (Papawera Consulting), Craig Briggs (Waikato Regional Council)

Abstract

This technical report documents the extent of freshwater wetlands in the Waikato region based on 2018 land cover.

The current (as of 2018) extent of freshwater wetland in the Waikato region is 33,268 hectares, covering approximately 1 per cent of the region’s total land area. The largest remaining areas, Kopuatai Peat Dome and Whangamarino Wetland, are internationally significant.

Eighty-three per cent of the remaining areas of freshwater wetland in the Waikato region occur within the most threatened environments (Category 1 and 2).

The Waikato, Hauraki and Matamata-Piako districts collectively hold 78 per cent of the region’s extent of freshwater wetland. Extensive areas remain in the lower Waikato Valley and Hauraki Plains, where the internationally significant Ramsar wetlands (Kopuatai Peat Dome and Whangamarino Wetland) are found.

 

Read or download the report