SALTWATER PASPALUM MANAGEMENT

We have brought the significance of salwater paspalum invasion within northern estuaries to the attention of regulatory authorities and helped initiate saltwater paspalum management in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty.  Saltwater paspalum management within the ecological significant Matua Estuary in the BOP and Wharekawa Harbour in the Coromandel are two projects we are involved with.

Saltwater paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum) is an invasive grass of estuaries in the upper half of the North Island.  The impacts of saltwater paspalum in estuaries appear to be similar to that of another salt-tolerant invasive grass Spartina, in that it can:

• change the composition and structure of indigenous vegetation;
• exclude burrowing fauna;
• reduce access to feeding and roosting sites of estuarine birds;
• alter fish spawning and feeding grounds; and
• alter estuarine hydrology by accumulating sediments. 

You can find out more about saltwater paspalum in this report.

Photos - before/after site M18 Matua Estuary