Rakaia River
Template:Short descriptionTemplate:Use dmy dates Template:Use New Zealand English Template:Infobox river
The Rakaia River is in the Canterbury Plains in New Zealand's South Island.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Rakaia River is one of the largest braided rivers in New Zealand.<ref>Morland, K. 1994: Water Resources of the Canterbury Region. Canterbury Regional Council Unpublished Technical Report U94/59.</ref> The Rakaia River has a mean flow of Template:Convert and a mean annual seven-day low flow of Template:Convert.<ref>Morgan, M., Bidwell, V., Bright, J., McIndoe, I, and Robb, C. (2002): Canterbury Strategic Water Study Template:Webarchive, Lincoln Environmental Report No 4557/1, Lincoln University, New Zealand. Table 6.1.</ref> In the 1850s, European settlers named it the Cholmondeley River, but this name lapsed into disuse.<ref>'Rivers Revert' Template:Webarchive, John Wilson. 'Canterbury', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 19-Sep-2007 URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/Places/Canterbury/Canterbury/en Template:Webarchive, retrieved 30 June 2008.</ref> The name Rakaia comes from Māori "Ō Rakaia", meaning the place where people were arranged by ranks.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
Description
It rises in the Southern Alps, travelling Template:Convert in a generally easterly or southeasterly direction before entering the Pacific Ocean Template:Convert south of Christchurch. It forms a lagoon as it reaches the ocean.
For much of its journey, the river is braided, running through a wide shingle bed. Close to Mount Hutt, however, it is briefly confined to a narrow canyon known as the Rakaia Gorge.
The Rakaia River is bridged in two places. The busiest crossing is at the small town of Rakaia, Template:Convert from the river mouth, where State Highway 1 using Rakaia Bridge and the South Island Main Trunk Railway cross the river using separate bridges. These two bridges are New Zealand's longest road and rail bridges respectively, approximately Template:Convert long.<ref>"The Rakaia River", Selwyn District Council, Template:Cite web, retrieved 31 August 2007</ref> A second bridge, much shorter and less used, spans the Rakaia Gorge.
The Central Plains Water Trust is proposing to take up to Template:Convert of water from the Rakaia River as part of the Central Plains Water enhancement scheme.<ref>Central Plains Water Trust applications for resource consent Template:Webarchive Environment Canterbury Resource Consents webpage, retrieved 6 October 2007.</ref>
The Rakaia River is a celebrated Chinook salmon fishery.<ref>West I. F. and Goode,R. H. (1987) "Aerial counts of spawning chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) on the Rakaia River system, Canterbury, New Zealand, 1973–76." New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1987, Vol. 21: 563–572.</ref> It has been identified as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because it supports breeding colonies of the endangered black-billed gull.<ref name=bli>Template:Cite web</ref> The river is also known for its large wrybill population which represents 73 percent of the total population. Other important bird species using the riverbed are black-fronted tern and banded dotterel.<ref>O’Donnell, C.F.J. (2000). The significance of river and open water habitats for indigenous birds in Canterbury, New Zealand, Environment Canterbury Unpublished Report U00/37.</ref>
References
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