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Waitara River

The Waitara catchment is the second largest catchment in the region and drains areas of both the eastern hill country and the extensively developed agricultural ring plain. The Waitara River holds special value for Te Atiawa, Ngati Maru and Ngati Mutunga Iwi.

The Waitara River rises deep in eastern hill country, and runs southwest toward Taranaki Maunga, before turning north west to meet the coast at Waitara. On its way, the Waitara is joined by its largest tributary, the Manganui River. The Manganui rises within Te Papakura o Taranaki and drains predominantly intensive agricultural land on its way to its confluence with the Waitara. 

Including Te Papakura o Taranaki, the Waitara catchment has a total of 6,748 km of stream bank. Many of the headwaters of tributaries within the Waitara catchment are in the Eastern Hill country where much of the streambank is protected by natural vegetation. The exact length of stream bank protected by riparian vegetation in this area has not been calculated and is not included in the current figures provided below for the extent of riparian vegetation. Therefore, the current figures do not represent the total amount of riparian vegetation in the Waitara catchment.

28% of the stream banks have riparian vegetation that is either covered by a Taranaki Regional Council riparian management plan (24%) or within the National Park (4%). 35% of stream banks are protected by riparian fencing outside of Te Papakura o Taranaki and another 4% is protected within the Park. There are stretches of stream bank that are both fenced and planted.

42% of the stream banks outside of Te Papakura o Taranaki are covered by riparian plans (October 2020).

Sites 13

Monitored sites in the Waitara River catchment

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