Clutha River / Mata-Au at Alexandra Bridge
We collect environmental data from all over Otago.
This data to helps us, and others who use it, make good decisions about managing our resources. Our map and data links below allow you to view our data and better understand our region’s environment.
Environmental monitoring looks at conditions and trends from data we gather about air quality, water quality and biodiversity (how plant, animals and insects are faring).
Discover the latest water data for over 350 monitored sites across Otago. Explore the Environmental Data Portal to access water levels, rainfall, flow, and more. Make informed decisions for our region’s environment.
Soil moisture data from the EDP provides guidance on when to apply effluent. Remember, it’s a guide—rainfall and soil types vary. Farmers, trust your judgment for safe practices.
Our air quality data is available to view on LAWA. Monitoring shows that for most of the year air quality in Otago is very good, with values within the National Environmental Standards for clean air.
Explore Otago’s Natural Hazards Database. Whether you’re a curious citizen or a decision-maker, explore and stay informed. Remember, for specific land details, grab a Land Information Memoranda (LIM) from your local council.
Use this interactive guide to find which native plants might work best in your area. It's made to make sure we choose the right plants for Otago, whether it's in a backyard, on a farm, or in a community project. By planting native plants, we can improve the diversity in Otago, creating a healthier ecosystem, improving water quality and fighting climate change.
Spatial data includes any information that relates to a particular geographic location or area. Use this site to find, explore, and download datasets owned by the council.
Land and Water Aotearoa (LAWA) offers vital environmental data about the quality of our rivers, lakes and beaches, water quantity data.
Interactive maps including data on threatened species, primary recreactional sites and water bodies.
The ORC has created online maps and a guide detailing the extent of Otago’s indigenous ecosystems and habitats for fauna. These resources provide native plant species lists tailored to Otago's natural ecology, helping residents restore native vegetation and habitats in backyards, farms, and local areas to encourage biodiversity restoration.
Explore Otago Maps to discover valuable information about our region. From regional plans to consents, this mapping tool provides insights for informed decisions.
Plan your native planting or restoration programme with the help of the Otago native planting guide, which gives a list of native plant species which grow in Otago or are important to Otago's biodiversity.
You can use the search bar in the top left-hand corner to search for a property address. Or you can move around the map to find an area by clicking and dragging, using the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in and out or use the + and – buttons on the left-hand side of the map.
This map includes broad-scale ecosystem coverage across Otago based on the Singers and Rogers (2014) ecosystem classification system. The legend shows what the colours on the map mean in terms of the classifications in this system.
The information in this map is split into layers, both the 'Otago Ecosystems and Habitats' and the 'Potential Ecosystems' under this layer are turned on when you open the map.
You can view all of the layer options by clicking ‘Layers’ in the blue band at the top right-hand side of the page.
You can click on the arrow to the left of any layer headings to see any sublayers. For example, under the 'Otago Ecosystems and Habitats' heading you will find the ‘Potential Ecosystems’ and ‘Current Indigenous Ecosystems’ layers. You can click on the arrow to the left of any layer headings to see any sublayers and if you click the arrow again you can see the legend that tells you what the colours over areas of the map mean.
If you want to see more layers on the map, you can tick the box next to the layer title to turn it on and click it again to turn it off. There are sublayers underneath the marine and terrestrial habitat layers that can also be toggled on and off.
Information on the map: When you click on coloured areas further information will be displayed in the pop-up panel on the left-hand side of the screen. This will confirm what layer the information sits under, what zone the area is and can have further information such as habitat significance and what species can be found there.
The maps were created using existing publicly available data and new data. Existing data included aerial and satellite imagery, and information from databases such as the Fundamental Soil Layers and the Land Cover Database.
New data was mapped using a wide range of resources including imagery, research reports, species distribution data, and local knowledge from highly experienced local consultants.
Combined with other regional (e.g. district council mapping) and national (e.g. Department of Conservation's national threatened species database) datasets, this mapping provides a much more comprehensive picture of current indigenous biodiversity across Otago and how it has likely changed over time.
However, the mapping has limitations and some errors are inevitable in mapping at this scale. This mapping was a desk-top exercise, rather than field-based. Limitations include moderately coarse resolution for many of the layers, and misclassification of polygons in some existing databases.
Please note: There will be minor differences in the way indigenous vegetation is classified between the ORC maps and some maps from district councils (e.g. DCC). This is because our mapping needed a consistent methodology applied at a broad regional scale, whereas other mapping has required a higher resolution for the district scale.
The maps will be used by ORC for a variety of purposes, including to:
The maps could be useful for you as a starting point to guide restoration projects by looking at the kinds of indigenous vegetation may have been present in a particular area, are likely to be present now, or what fauna is in the area that needs protecting. ORC will continue to refine the current ecosystem maps.
These maps are a collection of publicly available data and local knowledge. Please note, this information should be used for indications only.
If you would like further advice about the data on these maps:
Email customerservices@orc.govt.nz
Call 0800 474 082
The maps include current and ‘potential’ ecosystem extent for Otago. The ‘potential’ ecosystem extent is an estimate of where indigenous ecosystems would exist today if humans had not arrived in the region. The ecosystem classification system used in creating these maps is for terrestrial (land) and wetland ecosystems.
The current and ‘potential’ ecosystem maps provide insights into the degree of ecosystem change since human arrival, with potential uses of the maps including to inform revegetation and ecosystem restoration projects.
The maps of significant habitats of indigenous fauna across Otago’s terrestrial, freshwater and marine realms are for 20 groups, e.g., bats, birds.
These maps provide a baseline of indigenous biodiversity in Otago and will help inform where we work with partners and communities to maintain and enhance indigenous biodiversity.
