Waipa Stream Restoration Phase II

This agreement is being implemented in order to restore and enhance fish and invertebrate passage through the lower reaches of Waipa Stream. By removing and controlling invasive vegetation and re-establishing a native riparian vegetation community along the lower Waipa Stream corridor, habitat will be restored, barriers to fish passage will be removed, and water quality will be improved. Much of the upper Waipa Stream system still exhibits good quality aquatic habitat. However, in the lower stream reaches "hau bush" (Hibiscus tiliaceus) has overgrown the stream channel to the point that in-stream habitat available for native aquatic species has been significantly degraded, and unnatural barriers to upstream migration of these species often exist. Previous work phases have resulted in substantial progress towards the project's overall goals of restoring a 7.5 acre riparian corridor along lower Waipa Stream and removing physical barriers to fish and invertebrate passage in the project area. This project will benefit the public by increasing production of recreationally, commercially and culturally important fish and invertebrates as well as improving the physical chemical and physical characteristics of the central stream channel and riparian zone within the Waipa watershed.