Abstract
The water resources of Southern New Zealand are a dominant feature of the landscape, that connect the highest mountains through river corridors to the coast. These river corridors reflect the integrated catchment response that redistributes material from mountain erosion, as well as dispersing water across the landscape. From the orogenic headwater catchments of the Southern Alps with steep alpine streams, to small native forest catchments, Southern New Zealand illustrates how rivers influence topography and landscape. With increasing use and pressure on water resources there is a need to understand the land-river relationship – as illustrated by the effects of loss of native vegetation, pastoral intensification, and hydroelectricity demand and development, all of which directly impact water quality and water quantity. This chapter explores some of the distinctive features of the rivers of Southern New Zealand using case studies that draw on the influence of indigenous New Zealand flora and fauna, transformations of our river networks, and high intensity practices to demonstrate how human land use and disturbance affects the behaviour of river systems.