Decades of river bird data comes to life in new mapping tool
Environment Canterbury media release: 4th August 2025
A decades-long dream for braided river care groups across Waitaha Canterbury has come to life with the launch of a new GIS-based mapping platform that brings together more than 60 years of river bird survey data into one accessible public database.
A regional collaboration for braided river conservation
Hosted on the Canterbury Maps portal, the new tool collates and visualises data from around 15 agencies and groups, including:
- Department of Conservation (DOC);
- Canterbury Regional Council (Environment Canterbury); and
- local river care groups such as the Ōrari and Ashley/Rakahuri.
The project is the result of a major collaborative effort to preserve, enhance and understand New Zealand’s unique braided river ecosystems and the more than 80 bird species that depend on them.
“This is something people have wanted for decades,” says Miles Burford, Senior Science Analyst.
“Once we developed something for internal use, it made sense to scale it up to serve the whole region.”
Learn more about the biodiversity of Cantebury's braided rivers.
From raw data to regional insights
Working with other groups and leading the data and uploading processes means the tool will not only make data available to river care groups and researchers but also standardise survey recording procedures to ensure more robust and consistent monitoring going forward.
Ellery Mayence is DOC’s Principal Science Advisor for rare and threatened ecosystems which includes braided rivers, and says the tool takes this dataset to the next level.
“Visualising it through GIS transforms it from a spreadsheet into a decision-making tool. It becomes a way to look at bird populations over time, across catchments, and alongside land use changes like agricultural intensification as well as changes to weed cover.”
Because many of these species are highly mobile and exhibit seasonal patterns, this spatial context is crucial.
“It’s only in the past several years that this data has become detailed and rich enough to back up what we’re seeing on the ground, yet this is only for some species,” he adds.
The platform allows users to:
- explore patterns in bird diversity;
- species distribution; and
- changes in river use across decades - vital information for informed conservation decisions, policy development and community-led restoration work.
One dataset, many voices
The dataset itself stretches back to 1962 and was largely collated by DOC and its predecessor New Zealand Wildlife Service, who originally aggregated the survey work from across Waitaha. Today, the data contributions are roughly:
- 50 per cent from DOC and its predecessor agencies
- 25 per cent from Environment Canterbury
- 25 per cent from river care groups and researchers across the region.
“What we have now is a multi-agency dataset, with DOC playing a major role,” says Miles.
“But more importantly, it’s a shared taonga. We’ve taken years of hard mahi from across the region and turned it into something accessible, visual and useful for everyone.”
Honouring a shared vision for braided river protection
This step forward also honours the vision that guided the formation of BRaid (Braided River Aid) back in 2006 - to protect and restore braided river ecosystems through collaboration between iwi, community groups, councils and government agencies.
“We’re not just collecting data and forgetting about it. This is about curating, summarising and using it. What’s been envisioned for years is now a reality and a forward-looking tool informed by the past, guiding how we care for these ecosystems into the future,” says Ellery.
The Braided River Bird Survey Tool is now live on Canterbury Maps and is free to use for research, policy, education, and restoration.