Wyndham dairy farmers David Diprose, Karina and Peter Clement are working with the community to improve the Wyndham wetlands and wildlife reserve.

Wyndham dairy farmer David Diprose and sharemilkers Karina and Peter Clement are determined to improve the Wyndham Wetlands and Wildlife Reserve, but they aren't doing it alone. Brittany Pickett reports.

For some farmers, bordering a wetland might be considered a hassle but a group of Southland dairy farmers see it is an opportunity.

The Wyndham Wetlands are one of the few flax wetlands remaining in Southland.

BRITTANY PICKETT/FAIRFAX NZ Environment Southland land sustainability officer David Moate, Southland Fish & Game resource management officer Jacob Smythe and Wyndham resident Alan Leitch in the Wyndham Wildlife Reserve.

Wyndham resident Alan Leitch has been planting native plants in the wetlands in an effort to restore its natural beauty for 25 years.

Before many others, he saw the importance the wetlands had for both the environment and the community.

"My uncle was a big native planter and it just started from there. It didn't start out as something to do, it was a vision."

BRITTANY PICKETT/FAIRFAX NZ The Wyndham wetlands are becoming overrun with crack willow.

READ MORE: Gore dairy farmers have 'happier cows and happier staff'

Leitch's vision continues to inspire the community and throughout the years many people have been involved in restoring the wetland, most lately neighbouring dairy farm owner David Diprose and his sharemilkers Karina and Peter Clement.

Diprose describes wetlands as the kidneys of the ecosystem which purify the environment.

BRITTANY PICKETT/FAIRFAX NZ Menzies College students Nic Winn, 15, and Jessi Nelson, 16, with agriculture teacher Tim Landreth who are a part of the project to rejuvenate the Wyndham wetlands and wildlife reserve.

"We've got to enhance these areas that have been evaporated, I think 90 per cent of Southland the wetlands have been lost."

Mechanical diggers and development of land is so much faster that what used to take weeks could happen in a matter of hours now, he says.

With the advances in farmland development, wetland areas had fallen by the wayside but as a farmer Diprose wants to lift biodiversity and water quality while still running a profitable and sustainable business.

The Mataura River is an important recreation area and as well as the main waterway running alongside the wetland it is a popular fishing spot.

Diprose says encouraging the recreational use of waterways and wetlands is important, but it has to work alongside business.

"We appreciate that water is a communal thing, it's got communal values but we also have to run a business in that. We ask for respect and we try and tell our story that we're trying to run a business but we do [support] people doing good things around us and we want to encourage good biodiversity and good relationships and people to enjoy this good country of New Zealand."

Sometimes as a farmer you have get involve, and improving these areas has to be a part of farmers' clean and green image, he says.

As well as fencing and riparian planting, Diprose wants to include sediment traps on his farm before the sediment can make its way into the wetlands.

"There's going to be costs that we will incur as farmers but we can see generally that's going to benefit the environment."

He and the Clements are working with Environment Southland to enhance waterways on his farm which feed into the wetland. They have plans to remove pest plants and replace them with more suitable plantings.

Diprose wants the waterways to connect to the wetlands, but conservation should not just end where the wetlands end, he says.

It needs to be extended into the farmlands because they have an environmental impact into those areas, he says.

Diprose says the common theme is for everyone to get involved in a restoration project as it can't be done alone.

"Everybody working together will have better outcomes."

The Clements are the face of Diprose's dairy operation in Wyndham and the pair have been instrumental in getting the community involved in restoring the wetlands and wildlife reserve.

"I've been impressed with what they see in farming, the way they care for the animals and the way they've taken this farm on as their own," says Diprose. "As an owner it just does your heart good when your animals are looked after as good, or better or as well as you would look after them and the production has gone up and they've done it in a more sustainable way and enhanced the biodiversity, they see the need to do Farm Focus [Activity] Plans and the values of those."

The pair have partnered with Menzies College and have students learning about agricultural practices on the farm.

Karina says the biggest part of farming for her is appreciating the environment she is working in and not destroying it.

"I love all those sort of things, it's something to sink your teeth into."

Getting schools involved is a future-planning tactic. By getting children involved in from age five, they will retain a sort of ownership of the area when they are teenagers, parents, grandparents, she says.

Peter enjoys teaching students how to look after the land properly: "At the end of the day it is for them".

While the wetland area is owned by the Southland District Council, Environment Southland and Southland Fish & Game have joined the restoration project.

Environment Southland land sustainability officer David Moate became involved with the project after Diprose asked to get a planting plan for the farm done.

Diprose's farm is the gateway to the Wyndham township and he wanted to make the farm an aesthetically pleasing entrance.

Moate soon began developing a restoration plan for the wetland, building upon previous plans.

Southland has some of the largest wetlands left, but there are almost no flax wetlands remaining, he says.

"Our current rules aren't working, they're just not competing with the demand for production."

During the next four years Moate hopes to have the funding to aid the Three Rivers Catchment group to remove large stands of crack willow from the area.

"We plan to reduce the amount of crack willow that is in the wetland by about 80 per cent because it is starting to just completely take over and shading a lot of areas and reducing a lot of vegetation but we're retaining the crucial areas that maintain the waterfowl."

Once the willows are dealt to, he hopes hydrology testing of the area can be done to see if there are any parts of the wetlands that water can be returned to. He also hopes to develop further fish passageways into the area.

The Wyndham Wetland and Wildlife Reserve has social, business and environmental values for the Wyndham community, he says.

He hopes the restoration project will create sustainable biodiversity and water quality.

"These areas have a huge value to everyone and they're not just spots that historically we used as a landfill site, a gravel extraction site and just basically a area to screw."

Southland Fish & Game resource management officer Jacob Smythe said the most important part of the project for the organisation was to develop a biologically functioning wetland along with community values running alongside it.

The Wyndham Primary School received $10,000 for a Project Crimson and Mazda Foundation initiative, a Treemendous Makeover, and in May they planted 400 native plants to create a environmentally focused outdoor education area.

The school has joined up with the wetland restoration project as well.

Menzies College agriculture teacher Tim Landreth says the school's involvement in the three rivers catchment group and partnerships with Wyndham farmers had the students learning the importance of wetlands and water quality.

"Some of the standards relate to the impact of farming practices, reducing the impact and the importance of water quality to the environment."

Being involved in the project helps students learn the importance of enhancing the area through hands-on experience, he says.