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National Wetland Centre planned for Rangiriri.
October, 2001
An exciting new project will soon be starting at Rangiriri, 70 km south of Auckland. The National Wetland Trust, formed in 1999, has purchased nearly an acre of land backing on to Lake Kopuera on which to build a National Wetland Centre and wetland habitat gardens.
The Centre will provide information and displays, introducing the public to our fascinating wetlands, the animals and plants that live in them, and explaining why they are so important to us all. Courses for schools, land managers, farmers and anyone with an interest in wetlands will be run to explain the techniques of creating and looking after wetlands.
Trust Chairman, David Lawrie anticipates that "it will become the national source of information on all aspects of wetlands, and a centre for research. It will also be a place where the casual visitor can call in and wander round, and learn something about one of our least appreciated, yet most valuable natural resources."
A walking trail is planned to lead from the centre round Lake Kopuera, and on to Te Kauwhata. Three of New Zealand's five internationally important wetlands, Whangamarino, Kopuatai, and the Firth of Thames, are within a short driving distance. A Heritage Trail will lead to these wetlands, and will later be extended to cover all the main wetlands of New Zealand.
A main exit from the motorway extension is planned for Rangiriri, allowing the National Wetland Centre to become an important extension of the tourist attractions already in place, such as the Rangiriri Redoubt, the Rangiriri café with its historic and audio visual exhibits, the historic Rangiriri Hotel, and the popular Te Araroa walkway that currently ends at Rangiriri.
The Trust will be calling for expressions of interest from architects and landscape architects for the design of the building and gardens some time before Christmas. It is hoped to commence building in 2002, with a launch of the project on World Wetlands Day, February 2nd.