Tussock country!
The most dominant plant/land feature in the Ashburton Lakes and Hakatere Conservation Park is the vast tussock fields. Snow, fescue, and red tussocks and carex sedges in the wetlands produce fields of waving, gold/green and red, which host a myriad of wildlife habitats. Unfortunately, like most western countries, wetlands were seen as waste land by European settlers in New Zealand, and were drained in vast numbers. So the unspoiled red tussock (Chionochloa rubra) and swamp sedges (Carex secta) wetlands to the west (inlet) end of Lake Clearwater are nationally significant.
Tussock country!
The most dominant plant/land feature in the Ashburton Lakes and Hakatere Conservation Park is the vast tussock fields. Snow, fescue, and red tussocks and carex sedges in the wetlands produce fields of waving, gold/green and red, which host a myriad of wildlife habitats. Unfortunately, like most western countries, wetlands were seen as waste land by European settlers in New Zealand, and were drained in vast numbers. So the unspoiled red tussock (Chionochloa rubra) and swamp sedges (Carex secta) wetlands to the west (inlet) end of Lake Clearwater are nationally significant.