Walking through the new Whitby subdivision flows a small suburban stream teaming with new biodiversity.
Known as Duck Creek, it flows from its source in Belmont Regional Park, northwards alongside the Transmission Gully Motorway, through the township of Whitby before finally flowing into the Aotea Harbour.
The Developers of the new subdivision needed to make more land available for housing, which meant the stream was shifted 50 meters from its original path. As part of the shift, they had to meet council requirements which meant the stream needed to look and perform as a natural waterway with improved “Stream Ecological Values.”
The result is a lush, biodiverse stream that creates a beautiful public space for locals to enjoy, and vistas for neighbouring residents. Native riparian planting showcases the wider ecological environment with swathes of greens featuring carex, coprosma, flax and more.
Despite the challenges of working in a flood plain, the planting has created a stream habitat indistinguishable from a natural one with fully recolonised aquatic biota and diversity of fish species that mimics that of the former stream environment.
