A Fiordland crested penguin starting its moult has been rescued from a beach at Ocean View, south of Dunedin - where it was at risk from dog attacks - and released at Sandfly Bay, on Otago Peninsula.
The pump station on the Waipori River, which keeps more than 7000ha of the Taieri Plain dry, is to get a $1.1 million refurbishment, including new pumps.
The Otago Regional Council is backing its approach to water management in Otago, saying it is "simpler and more cost-effective" than Government-backed recommendations for fresh water management.
A new enforcement tool is being developed to ensure landowners not complying with new rabbit-control regulations are compelled to do so.
The anxious wait for suitable weather conditions to allow aerial spraying to begin over the Waihola-Waipori wetlands ended yesterday, one the eve of World Wetlands Day.
Severe gale-force westerly gusts whipped around Dunedin yesterday afternoon and are expected to return tonight.
Residents in Otago's high-pollution towns such as Alexandra, Arrowtown and Milton will not get a deferment from tight deadlines to improve their towns' air quality despite a Government announcement loosening the timeframes.
After nearly three years of enforcement action and prosecutions, the Otago Regional Council is $82,000 in the black.
A kereru (wood pigeon) was released by Project Kereru members at Flagstaff yesterday.
Any delay in letting the public know the cost of constructing the Leith Lindsay Flood Protection Scheme had blown out was due to a lack of confidence in the figures provided by its consultants, Otago Regional Council chairman Stephen Woodhead said.
The Government needs to stump up financially and contribute to the flood protection scheme on the Water of Leith, Otago regional councillors say.
The Otago Regional Council will consult Henley residents on the implications of the township's floodbank being added to the council's asset register.
A cost of about $12 million to complete flood protection works on Lindsay Creek cannot be justified, Otago Regional Council chairman Stephen Woodhead said.
Fed up with the changeable, cloudy weather?
Estimated costs for flood protection work on the Water of Leith and Lindsay Creek have more than doubled to $53 million, latest figures released by the Otago Regional Council show.
Construction of the nine-turbine wind farm at Mt Stuart, near Milton, will start in April, Pioneer Generation announced yesterday.
A Dunedin arborist has achieved what he believes is a New Zealand first - a master arborist qualification from the International Society of Arboriculture, in the United States.
At this time of year great white sharks are travelling down the the east coast of the South Island on their way to their summer feeding grounds around Stewart Island.
Otago's increasing rabbit problem has been exacerbated by the heavy rainfall in the region in the past month, the Otago Regional Council says.
Dunedin Octagon's plane trees are showing a "noted improvement" (pictured far right, yesterday) compared with what they looked like in January last year when it first emerged they were being attacked by an unknown fungal disease.
