Education Destination

The Red Bridge River Park Trust will partner with schools, technical and tertiary institutions including the Mount Aspiring College, the Otago Polytechnic, and the Otago University, providing a destination for outdoor education activities and studies including kayaking, outdoor first-aid, water safety, freshwater ecosystem studies, and native restoration. The Trustees wish to foster a culture of stewardship among students of all ages.

Educational features will include the interpretation of Chinese gold-workings, the ecological restoration of the site, and a Longfin eel habitat in the context of the survival of the species in a degrading freshwater ecosystem.


LONGFIN EEL PROJECT
The river park includes a Longfin eel recovery and education project to assist this endangered species. The Trust is planning to enlarge an existing pond within the park to accommodate Longfin eels. The native Longfin Eel, having suffered the loss of its migration route to and from the Pacific Ocean because of hydro dams, is highly endangered. Our endemic Longfin eels are unique - they are the biggest, longest-lived eel species in the world. The females can reach more than 2m in size and live up to 100 years of age before breeding.


Existing pond at river park


Longfin - Image Credit Daniel Huertas, Icon Films


More information: 

http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/native-animals/fish/eels/

http://www.longfineel.co.nz/


 

CMRP

Manaaki Tuna

Clutha River Guardian