Our region - with its subtropical weather and big range of places for things to live - has loads of different plants and animals, many of them found nowhere else.
Where are we now?
More than 80 per cent of Northland has been changed from its natural state. Most of the unchanged places have lots of different things living in them that add to the unique biodiversity of our region.
Northland has internationally important estuaries, harbours and islands, a variety of freshwater wetlands and forest types and a large diversity of plants and animals.
We also have many threatened species, and more plants and animals at risk of extinction than most other regions in New Zealand.
Plants and animals are dying out because the places in which they live are being changed or destroyed, and because of the large number of pest plants and animals estblished in Northland.
The many pest-free islands around our coast are safe places for rare plants and animals. These islands are like a warehouse of biodiversity. Some of the rare plants and animals on the islands can make it back to the mainland and find places here to live. This is already happening with birds such as kaka, kakariki and bellbirds moving from islands to the mainland.
What are we doing?
Helping community groups
More and more people are getting involved with their local environment, either individually or as groups. We are there and available to help with advice, financial support from the Northland Regional Council Environment Fund, and education.
Planning and regulating
The plans we have now, and those we continue to work on, have changed over the years. Looking after our biodiversity is now right up there in our priorities as we consider what, and how, things should happen - a really important factor in making decisions on resource consents.
Riparian fencing
We’ve set a deadline of mid-2009 for farmers to fence grazing animals out of Coastal Marine Areas - that is fence stock above the high tide mark. Stock grazing in tidal areas damages plants and the places fish breed. Stock effluent dirties the water and destroys the habitat. Please call us 0800 002 004 for more information.