The term 'wetland' covers habitats where the land is covered in, or saturated by, water for most (but not necessarily all) of the time.

Wetlands occur in areas where surface water collects or where underground water seeps through to the surface. They include swamps, bogs, salt marshes, lakes and some river edges.

Wetlands are extremely important ecosystems and are home to many rare native plants and animals. Unfortunately very few wetlands still exist in New Zealand and Greater Wellington offers advice on wetland restoration, and in some cases can offer assistance to landowners wishing to restore wetlands on private land.

In this section you can learn how to restore a wetland, read a guide to common native wetland plants and find out where to go for assistance.

If you need more detailed and technical information about wetland restoration, including information on wetland hydrology, our publication Understanding the wet in wetlands will be useful for you. You can get a PDF copy of this publication from the column at the right or email publications@gw.govt.nz for a hard copy of this booklet.

If you want information about building a new wetland check out our new publication:  So you're thinking about a pond .  You can also get a PDF copy of this publication from the column at the right or email publications@gw.govt.nz for a hard copy of this booklet.