Restoring the Pūharakekenui

The Styx Living Laboratory Trust is a local river care group, that has been running since 2001. The Trust’s purpose is developing learning and research in the Pūharakekenui/Styx River catchment, a spring-fed ecosystem on the northern edge of Ōtautahi/Christchurch, Aotearoa/New Zealand.
It is the third largest river in Ōtautahi.

Our vision is to restore the Pūharakekenui river corridor as “a place of wilderness and peace” - to create an urban wilderness from source to sea. The awa provides something rare and increasingly valuable: daily access to nature in its most authentic form, within an urban setting. This allows people of all ages and backgrounds - regardless of time or financial means - to regularly experience solitude, biodiversity, and connection to the natural world. The Pūharakekenui may be one of the only waterways in the country with a genuine opportunity to be restored as a continuous source-to-sea wilderness within a city. This is both a responsibility and an opportunity - to protect a defining landscape that sets the Pūharakekenui apart locally, nationally, and internationally.

Our mahi focuses on ecological restoration, enhancing water quality, citizen science, community engagement and environmental education.

We are passionate about our river and want it to remain clean, healthy, and biodiverse, so it is available for future generations to use and enjoy.