- Rangitata River
The Rangitata River(English: Alford) is one of the
braided river s that helped form theCanterbury Plains in southernNew Zealand . It flows southeast for 120 kilometres from theSouthern Alps , entering thePacific Ocean 30 kilometres northeast ofTimaru .Towards its mouth, the river splits into two streams, forming a large delta island (
Rangitata Island ). This island is crossed by State Highway 1 and theMain South Line railway between Ealing andRangitata and thus is an island connected directly by New Zealand's main state highway and one of its primary railway lines.The Rangitata River is a celebrated
Chinook salmon ("Oncorhynchus tshawytscha") fishery. [McDowall, R. M. (1990) New Zealand freshwater fishes: a natural history and guide. Heinemann-Reed, Auckland, 553 p.]On
23 December 1999 Fish and Game New Zealand lodged an application for a water conservation order on the Rangitata River. In June 2006, the water conservation order was gazetted. [The application, the reports of the Special Tribunal and the Environment Court, the Minister's press release, and the Water Conservation (Rangitata River) Order 2006 are available on this page of the Ministry for the Environment's website [http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/water/freshwater/water-conservation/rangitata/index.html Application for a Water Conservation Order on the Rangitata River] , retrieved6 November 2007 .]References
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