The ability of the past to inform the future is behind new research into Wairau Plain sediments dating back 12,000 years.

GNS Science will present the research findings at a public meeting on Thursday 11 July at Blenheim’s Scenic Hotel Marlborough from 5.30 to 6.30pm. Members of the community, environmental groups, senior school students, local business and industry, and iwi are all encouraged to attend. The GNS Science presentation will deliver the research findings using compelling visuals.

Funded by Envirolink, a regional council driven funding scheme administered by the Ministry for Business Innovation and Enterprise (MBIE), the research was conducted by GNS Science in partnership with Council. Its focus is on the Lower Wairau and its rivers and streams – including Ōpaoa River, Doctors Creek, Taylor River, Wairau River, and Pukaka Stream.

Called the ‘Assessment of naturally hard and soft bottomed rivers, Wairau Plain, Marlborough’; the research uses a new rapid assessment method to map the characteristics of sediments both across and beneath the Wairau Plain, an important first step to understand what effects human intervention has had on the plain’s rivers.

The research will also be presented to Council’s Environment and Planning Committee.

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