Environment

All of the Southland District is now in a prohibited fire season, effective as at 6am Tuesday 29 March. This means there is a total fire ban in Southland, and all permits are suspended until further notice. Southland District Manager, Julian Tohiariki says the extended dry weather conditions, curren

Update from Environment Southland Water Shortage Direction Amendment The Gore District Council is moving to level 2 water restrictions for Gore and Mataura, effective immediately. Level 2 restrictions include: Residents can water vegetable gardens, using any method, between 7:00am – 9:00am or 7:00pm

Water restrictions have been introduced throughout Southland district. Low rainfall in Southland district since before Christmas has depleted the levels of Southland rivers, streams, aquifers and lakes. To conserve water, unattended sprinklers or hoses are not allowed to operate anywhere on Southlan

Department of Conservation Ecologist Brian Rance believes he’s found a new plant species high in the Livingstone Mountains of Southland and is thrilled by the implications of the rare find. The discovery was made during an expedition at the end of January, when Brian was assisting Te Papa scientist

It was 38 years on 26-31st January 1984 it rained solidly for days around Invercargill and Southland suffered severe flooding. Friday 27th January 1984 was named Southland’s Black Friday, take a look back at how town looked, some amazing images. Below we have listed all the Flood chapters. The Video

All of Southland is now in a restricted fire season. The change occurred at 8am Wednesday 26 January 2022, and means anyone planning to light an open-air fire will need to apply for and obtain a permit. Southland District Manager, Julian Tohiariki says the current conditions are the reason for the c

Work to strengthen, raise and reshape the stop bank at Boundary Creek, north of Mataura, is expected to be complete by the end of February. Improvements to the Boundary Creek stop bank are among several works Environment Southland are undertaking to upgrade the stop banks protecting the town of Mata

Environment Southland’s latest monitoring has found more locations with elevated levels of toxic algae. The latest locations are the Waikaia River at Waikaia, the Mataura River at Mataura Island Bridge and the Whitestone River downstream from Manapouri-Hillside. River users and animals should avoid