{{Short description|Lake in the South Island of New Zealand}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=August 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}} {{Infobox body of water | name = Lake Brunner | other_name = Kōtuku Moana | native_name = {{Native name|mi|Kōtukuwhakaoka}} | image = TWC Lake Brunner • Stewart Nimmo • MRD 16.jpg |alt = Fishing on Lake Brunner | caption = Fishing on Lake Brunner | image_bathymetry = | caption_bathymetry = | mapframe = yes | mapframe-zoom = 11 | mapframe-point = none | pushpin_map = New Zealand | pushpin_map_alt = Location of Lake Brunner | pushpin_map_caption = Lake Brunner in New Zealand | location = [[Grey District]], [[West Coast Region]], [[South Island]] | coords = {{Coord|42|37|S|171|27|E|region:NZ_type:waterbody|display=inline,title}} | type = | etymology = Named after[[Thomas Brunner]]; the [[Māori language|Māori]] name translates as 'sea of herons' | inflow = | outflow = [[Arnold River (New Zealand)|Arnold River]] | catchment = | basin_countries = New Zealand | length = | width = | area = {{cvt|40|km2}} | depth = | max-depth = {{cvt|109|m}} | volume = | residence_time = | shore = | elevation = | islands = | cities = [[Moana, New Zealand|Moana]] }}
'''Lake Brunner''' ({{langx|mi|Kōtuku Moana}} or {{lang|mi|Kōtukuwhakaoka}}) is the largest lake in the [[West Coast Region]] of New Zealand, located {{cvt|31|km}} southeast of [[Greymouth]]. The main settlement, [[Moana, New Zealand|Moana]], is on its northern shore. It is an important settlement and waystation for local [[Māori people|Māori]]. The first Europeans in the area were loggers, and sawmills were an important early industry. Being several kilometres inland from the coast road ({{NZlSH|6}}), it is less frequently visited by tourists than many of the West Coast's scenic highlights, but it is becoming increasingly popular, in part due to its reputation for [[fishing]].
== Geography == Lake Brunner is the largest lake in the West Coast region, {{cvt|10|km}} across with an area of 4061 ha, just over {{cvt|40|sqkm}}.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Lake Brunner / Kōtukuwhakaoka |url=https://lakes380.com/lakes/brunner/ |access-date=16 July 2022 |website=Lakes380 |language=en-NZ |archive-date=27 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210727172259/https://lakes380.com/lakes/brunner/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The outlet of the lake is the [[Arnold River (New Zealand)|Arnold River]], a tributary of the [[Grey River (New Zealand)|Grey River / Māwheranui]], next to the largest settlement of Moana, on the north shore of the lake. The largest rivers feeding into Lake Brunner are the Crooked River from the east, the Orangipuku River and Bruce Creek from the south at Swan Bay, and the Eastern Hohonu River from the west at Hohonu Spit.<ref name=":2" /> It is 31 km southwest of Greymouth, at an altitude of 76 m.<ref name=":2" /> Two small islands in Pah Bay near the mouth of the Crooked River are known as the Refuge Islands (Takataka and Takatakaiti).<ref name="Wilson" />{{rp||page=|pages=224–226}}
The lake is normally reached by heading south from State Highway 7 at Stillwater, or north from Jacksons on State Highway 73. A smaller road connects Kumara and Inchbonnie via the lake's southern shore. Most of the lake shore is only accessible by boat; the only settlements are Moana, Ruru, Te Kinga, and Mitchells. Bain Bay can be reached by a walking track from Mitchells, but a damaged bridge was removed in January 2021 and the track is currently closed.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Lake Brunner (Moana) (south) walks |url=https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/west-coast/places/lake-brunner-area/things-to-do/tracks/lake-brunner-moana-south-walks/ |access-date=20 July 2022 |website=www.doc.govt.nz |language=en-nz |archive-date=20 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720101231/https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/west-coast/places/lake-brunner-area/things-to-do/tracks/lake-brunner-moana-south-walks/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
Lake Brunner was created in the last ice age by a spur of the Taramakau Glacier, which split from the main glacier and flowed north either side of [[Mount Te Kinga]], between it and the [[Hohonu Range]]. Both these prominent mountains are made of erosion-resistant [[granite]] and [[granodiorite]], cooled [[magma]] 100–145 million years old.<ref>Barrell, D.J.A.; Andersen, B.G.; Denton, G.H. (2011.) ''Glacial geomorphology of the central South Island, New Zealand''. GNS Science Monograph '''27.''' Lower Hutt, New Zealand: GNS Science.</ref> When the glacier receded about 11,000 years ago, it left behind [[moraine]]s which impeded the flow of rivers to the sea and filled the gouged-out glacial valley; the large blocks of rock it dropped, known as [[glacial erratic]]s, can still be found in the surrounding bush. At this point, the lake would have been larger and deeper than today, with several outflows, but the Arnold River eventually became the main one, cutting through the moraine ridges to drain the lake to its present level.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Adshead |first=Rona |title=Hidden Valley |publisher=Stewart |year=1986 |isbn=1-86938-001-0 |location=Levin |language=en-nz}}</ref> The same process of moraine deposition and glacial retreat created nearby [[Kangaroo Lake (New Zealand)|Kangaroo Lake]], [[Lady Lake (New Zealand)|Lady Lake]], and [[Lake Haupiri]].<ref name=":2" />
To the south of the lake, linking it to the Taramakau River valley, is a {{cvt|1200|acre}} stretch of flat land known in the 1860s as the "Natural Paddock" or "Bruce's Paddock". The term "paddock" referred on the Coast to any treeless expanse, and Natural Paddock was mostly [[pakihi]] swamp.<ref name="May">{{Cite Q|Q113001355}}</ref>{{rp|527}}
The lake is large enough that it can be subject to severe weather, including a powerful easterly wind known as the "Brucer", which blows up the valley from Inchbonnie, once {{cvt|6000|acre}} belonging to Thomas Bruce (1831–1908) who began farming there in 1872.<ref name=":4" /><ref name="Griffin" />
Lake Brunner has a maximum depth of 109 m,<ref name=":2" /> but local stories claimed that the lake was bottomless, or that it was connected with the sea and rose and fell with the tides. A naval survey after WWII established its deepest part, near the Takataka islands by the mouth of the Crooked River, at around 335 feet.<ref name="Griffin" /> Like Lake Kaniere, the other large glacial lake on the West Coast, Lake Brunner is in a deeply-scoured basin and drops off quite rapidly around most of its shoreline. Its water is stained the colour of tea, sometimes appearing almost black, by the [[tannin]]s—organic and [[humic acids]]—leached into its tributaries: a consequence of high rainfall in a catchment that is almost entirely forested. The lake waters are acidic, with a low [[pH]] and low oxygen levels compared to lakes on the eastern side of the main divide.<ref name="JollyBrown">{{Cite Q|Q113240516}}</ref>{{rp|110–117}} The soils in its catchment are derived from greywacke, granite, and schist, and are low in nutrients, but unlike many other West Coast glacial lake, Lake Brunner has significant alluvial soils on its margin.<ref name="JollyBrown" />{{rp||pages=187–188}} The lake has less thermal stratification than other West Coast lakes, as it is subject to strong winds, and its level fluctuates significantly following heavy rain, sometimes covering the jetty at Moana.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Burgess |first=Allan |date=8 June 2017 |title=Brunner, Lake, Trout Fishing – Where the trout die of old age! |url=https://fishingmag.co.nz/south-island/westland-fishing-destinations-south-island/lake-brunner-trout-fishing-westland-south-island |access-date=12 July 2022 |website=Fishingmag.co.nz |language=en-US |archive-date=12 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712074441/https://fishingmag.co.nz/south-island/westland-fishing-destinations-south-island/lake-brunner-trout-fishing-westland-south-island |url-status=live }}</ref><gallery mode="packed"> File:Mount Alexander across Lake Brunner.jpg|Mount Alexander File:Molloy Bay MRD 02.jpg|Mount Te Kinga from Moana File:Cashmere Bay MRD 07.jpg|Mount Te Kinga from Cashmere Bay File:Cashmere Bay MRD 06.jpg|Hohonu Peaks from Cashmere Bay </gallery>
== Name == [[File:Kotuku · Rina Sjardin-Thompson WCSW.jpg|thumb|Kōtuku ''([[Ardea alba modesta]])'']] Although the [[Māori language|Māori]] name for the lake is often given as just "Moana", two names for the lake are recorded. The first, ''Kōtuku moana'', translates as "sea of herons", referencing the white heron (''[[Ardea alba modesta]])'', known to Māori as kōtuku.<ref>{{cite book |last=Reed |first=A. W. |title=Place Names of New Zealand |publisher=Raupo |year=2010 |isbn=9780143204107 |editor=Peter Dowling |location=Rosedale, North Shore |page=61 |author-link=Alexander Wyclif Reed}}</ref> In New Zealand kōtuku have a population of roughly 200 at any one time, breeding only at [[Ōkārito]] on the West Coast, and are symbols of beauty and rarity in Māori culture.<ref name="NZGeo">{{Cite magazine |first=Andrea |last=Graves |date=May–June 2017 |title=Kōtuku: The story of the bird on our $2 coin |magazine=New Zealand Geographic |issue=145 |url=https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/kotuku/ |access-date=8 May 2020 |archive-date=4 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211104090114/https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/kotuku/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
The second name, ''Kōtukuwhakaoka'', is shared with the Arnold River, and is the name of a Māori chief (''[[Rangatira]]'') from the North Island who came upon the lake after following the river upstream. According to [[Māori mythology]], the chief was attacked and killed by a [[taniwha]] which lived in the lake, which later became one of the two islands in the lake after it was killed by the chief's son.<ref name="KāHuruManu">{{cite web |title=Kōtukuwhakaoka |url=https://www.kahurumanu.co.nz/atlas?find=Kōtukuwhakaoka |website=Kā Huru Manu |publisher=Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu |access-date=10 July 2022 |archive-date=17 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717032750/https://www.kahurumanu.co.nz/atlas?find=K%C5%8Dtukuwhakaoka |url-status=live }}</ref> The name was variously rendered as ''Kotukuwakaho'' and ''Kotuku-kaoka''; Brunner spelled it "Kotu-urakaoka" in the proclamation that in 1853 defined the boundaries of the province.<ref name="May" />{{rp|51}}
In the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998, the lake's name was rendered slightly differently, as ''Kōtuku-Whakaoho''. The origin was traced to a husband and wife, Kōtuka and Māwhera, who gave their names to the lake and the Grey River respectively.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1998 |title=Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998 No 97 (as at 01 January 2014) Public Act Schedule 25 Statutory acknowledgement for Kōtuku-Whakaoho (Lake Brunner Moana) |url=https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1998/0097/28.0/DLM430858.html |access-date=11 July 2022 |website=New Zealand Legislation |archive-date=17 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717032754/https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1998/0097/28.0/DLM430858.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
The English name "Lake Brunner" was chosen by [[John Rochfort (surveyor)|John Rochfort]] to honour the 19th century explorer [[Thomas Brunner]], who was the first European to visit the lake.<ref name="May" />{{rp|51}}
== History ==
=== Māori occupation === The lake was a significant resting point for Māori groups travelling east or west over the Hurunui saddle. They would stop at the lake to fish for eels and [[Echyridella menziesii|kākahi]] (freshwater mussels), catch birds, or process [[pounamu]]. The green stone only found on the West Coast was a precious commodity to Māori all through [[Aotearoa]], and a significant trade good for the Poutini [[Ngāi Tahu]], the hapū who lived west of the [[Southern Alps|Southern Alps / Tiritiri-o-te-moana]].<ref name=":4" /> Fortified settlements were built at Pah Point on the eastern side of the lake, and on nearby Takataka Island, with terraces, stockades, and gardens. There is evidence of pounamu working taking place at Pah Point and Takakataka Island at the lake, and Kotuku up the Arnold Valley.<ref name=":4" />
=== Early exploration === [[File:Thomas Brunner (1821-1874), surveyor and explorer (small).jpg|thumb|[[Thomas Brunner]]]] Brunner, who in the 1840s had undertaken several journeys to and from the West Coast alone or in the company of [[Charles Heaphy]]—but always led, provisioned, and hosted by local Māori—spent Christmas of 1847 at the settlement of Māwhera at the mouth of the [[Māwheranui]] (Grey River). The resident Poutini [[Ngāi Tahu]] told him about a lake upriver, and Brunner was keen to explore the area inland. After a three-week delay while his guides went on a fishing trip, and ten days of provisioning, Brunner and twenty Māori set off upriver in four canoes on 26 January 1848. Heading up what came to be known as the [[Arnold River (New Zealand)|Arnold River]], the party reached the lake on 29 January. They camped on Takataka (later known as the Refuge Islands) near the mouth of the Crooked River, where they ate [[Echyridella menziesii|kākahi]] and [[raupō]] root, and Brunner smoked the last of his tobacco.<ref name="LakeBrunnerMemories" />{{rp|11}} His guides told Brunner there was an overland route across the mountains near the Taramakau River, but the group turned back and headed to the Grey and the [[Inangahua River|Inangahua]] Valley.<ref name="May" />{{rp|41}}
In October 1857 [[Leonard Harper (politician)|Leonard Harper]], led by Ihaia Tainui and three other Māori, left Canterbury and crossed the mountains at the Hurunui Saddle, known afterwards as the [[Harper Pass]]. Heading down the Taramakau towards the sea, he glimpsed grassy flats and the lake on his right, but did not investigate.<ref name="May" />{{rp|pages=45–46}} In February 1859 surveyor [[John Rochfort (surveyor)|John Rochfort]] followed the same route down the Taramakau, but after camping below its junction with the [[Ōtira River|Ōtira]], east of Mount Turiwhate, he headed north through the low gap that led to the lake. On the shore the party made a canoe from a [[kahikatea]] log and crossed the lake, which Rochfort named after Thomas Brunner, and exited by the river he dubbed the "Arnould".<ref name="May" />{{rp|51}} [[File:Herbert Howitt (cropped).jpg|thumb|220x220px|Charlton Howitt]] From January to March 1863 young explorer Herbert Charlton Howitt, who previously explored for gold across the Hurunui Saddle, cut a trail over the pass to Lake Brunner. He initially planned to make a trail around the lake shore to the Arnold River as a route to the coast. In April he decided instead to cut a track from the lakeshore over the Hohunu Range to the lower Taramakau, avoiding the dangerous Taramakau Gorge. On 27 June, Howitt and two of his party set off across the lake by canoe to fish for eels and retrieve stores from their camp at the Arnold River outlet, and were never seen again. The canoe, which sat only three inches above the water when laden, was presumably swamped in a storm, and the three men drowned;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Howitt |first=E. W. |title=The History of Discovery in Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand |publisher=Longman, Roberts, and Green |year=1865 |location=London |pages=454}}</ref> numerous subsequent searches turned up only his tent and some eel lines at the lake shore.<ref name="May" />{{rp|pages=89–90}}
In December 1865, during the [[West Coast gold rush]], word got around that a group of prospectors, known as the "Kangaroo party", had lodged a claim on land to the north-east of Lake Brunner. Eight hundred men headed to the lake, where they found a ferry boat waiting to take them across the lake at 15 shillings a head, and a well-stocked store on the other side. When no gold was to be found, an angry mob looted and demolished the store and headed back to Greymouth. Flooding in the swamp at the Arnold River outlet marooned 200 of them, who clung to kahikatea trunks without food until the waters receded.<ref name="May" />{{rp|pages=173–175}}
=== Railway construction === [[File:Moana Station 2018-01-10.jpg|thumb|Moana railway station]] By 1867 the Canterbury provincial government had built a bush track along the south bank of the Grey and Arnold rivers, and along the south-west shore of the lake to Natural Paddock.<ref name="May" />{{rp|357}} The first farmers in the area settled around the Crooked River in 1868–69. In the 1880s a railway linking Greymouth and Christchurch was begun, which opened up the Arnold Valley and Lake Brunner. The route was originally proposed to follow the eastern side of the lake, but Westland MP [[Richard Seddon]], from 1891 Minister of Public Works, insisted that it follow the western shore, closer to his constituency of [[Kumara (New Zealand electorate)|Kumara]]. After some wrangling, the railway was laid to the east of the lake, and a road constructed to connect Kumara with the southern lakeshore, from which a steamboat could convey people to a railway station—although this ferry never eventuated.<ref name=":4" /> Moana had its own railway station by 1892, and the line continued as far south as Te Kinga, where it hit swampland. Materials were then conveyed by the steam launch ''Little Tay'' across the lake and up the Orangipuku River to Inchbonnie, and during 1893 construction continued in both directions up to Rotomanu and down to Jacksons.<ref name=":4" />{{rp||page=68}} The link between Stillwater and Ōtira was completed in 1894. The Midland Line connecting Greymouth and Christchurch opened in 1923, after 36 years of construction and the building of the Ōtira Tunnel. The building of the railway created a market for the long-lasting timber of manoao or silver pine (''[[Manoao colensoi]]''), which was used for railway sleepers, telegraph poles, and bridges.
All trains stopped at Moana for water, and the settlement quickly grew: by 1906 it had four shops and a billiard room, and in 1907 a grand hall opened, hosting bachelor dances for the timber workers. The road took longer: by 1896 it had reached from the south from Rotomanu to Bell Hill, with a track to Stillwater, and by 1918 it was possible to drive from Rotumanu to Kotuku and then Greymouth—although the road was only kept navigable by grazing deer and a gate needed to be traversed at Bell Hill.<ref name=":4" />
=== Sawmilling === [[File:Cashmere Bay, Lake Brunner, Westland (21583642526) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Sawmill at Cashmere Bay, circa 1910]] Numerous sawmills sprung up along the railway line; some transported felled trees to the railway with bush trams operating on wooden rails. Other had logging gangs felling trees around the lake and towing them by boat to mills on the lake shore. Nyberg's mill, later the Lake Brunner Sawmilling Company, operated in Ruru. The Moana Sawmill Company, with a log landing near the Arnold River outfall. Stratford and Blair operated a sawmill beside the Moana railway station. In the 1930s trees were felled at Irishman's Landing across the lake and towed by launch, the ''Monica,'' to Moana.<ref name="LakeBrunnerMemories">{{Cite Q|Q113133597}}</ref>{{rp||page=7}} United Mills operated in Te Kinga, using timber felled in a logging camp across the lake at Bain Bay. Initially they were transported across the lake by the ''Tiki'', a steam launch, and from 1938 to 1963 by the ''Tikinui'', which towed a punt onto which logs that would not float were fastened.<ref name="Griffin">{{Cite Q|Q113021912|pages=53–56}}</ref> When a "Brucer" blew, waves were so high they would break over the Tikinui's wheelhouse (8 feet above lake level); the boat would cast loose its punt and logs and make for shelter, returning to retrieve any floating logs the next day.<ref name="Griffin" /> After native timber forestry had ceased on the West Coast, a business sprang up using divers and chains to salvage logs from the lake bottom for milling.<ref>{{Cite news |last= |first= |date=March 2012 |title=Ray Thomas, Lake Brunner |language=en-NZ |pages=2 |work=Forestry and Land Operations Newsletter |publisher=Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries |url=https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/3815-forestry-and-land-operations-newsletter-issue-1-march-2012 |url-status=live |access-date=16 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717032748/https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/3815-forestry-and-land-operations-newsletter-issue-1-march-2012 |archive-date=17 July 2022}}</ref> Logs that had sunk to the lake floor a century ago remained perfectly preserved, with axe marks still visible.<ref name="Griffin" />
In the [[Great Depression]], two thirds of the area's sawmills shut down, and in 1963 the Lake Brunner Sawmilling Company, the first to send logs through the Ōtira Tunnel, closed from lack of suitable timber. The cleared flat land around the lake proved suitable for farming, particularly dairy herds, and from the early 1960s local farms were supplying the Westland Cooperative Dairy Co. in Hokitika.<ref name=":4" /> By 1976 twenty percent of the catchment of the lake was farmed and Moana had a population of 84, with most of the buildings being holiday homes.<ref name="cooke">{{cite journal |last=Cooke |first=Marylyn D. |year=1976 |title=Antibiotic Resistance Among Coliform and Fecal Coliform Bacteria Isolated from the Freshwater Mussel Hydridella menziesii |url= |journal=Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy |publisher=American Society for Microbiology |volume=9 |issue=6 |pages=885–888 |doi=10.1128/aac.9.6.885 |pmc=429644 |pmid=779633}}</ref>
== Flora == [[File:Cashmere Bay MRD 03.jpg|thumb|Swamp forest at Cashmere Bay]] Lake Brunner is notable in being surrounded by intact native forest, although the flats have been extensively logged while kahikatea (''[[Dacrycarpus dacrydioides]]'') swamp forest is found at many points along the lake shore. Kahikatea is able to tolerate submergence of its roots, and when lake levels are high it is possible to travel by kayak through forests of 30 m trees, one of the few places on the West Coast where this is easily done.<ref name="Wilson">{{Cite Q|Q98762244}}</ref>{{rp|pages=52–53}} The lakeside kahikatea and flax (''[[Phormium tenax]]'') community includes small-leaved divaricating shrubs like mingimingi and ''[[Coprosma rhamnoides]]'', and the trees rimu and kamahi.<ref name="Wilson" />{{rp||page=|pages=224–226}}
Much of the forest on the flats and surrounding hills is tall [[Podocarpaceae|podocarp]] forest, predominantly kahihatea, rimu (''[[Dacrydium cupressinum]]''), tōtara (''[[Podocarpus totara]]''), and silver pine/manoao (''[[Manoao colensoi]]''), which can reach the lake edge at places like the Hohonu River. The drier forest away from the lake edge is dominated by rimu, mataī (''[[Prumnopitys taxifolia]]''), Hall's tōtara ''([[Podocarpus laetus]]''), and needle-leafed tōtara (''[[Podocarpus acutifolius|P. acutifolius]]''). On the higher slopes the forest is predominantly southern beech (formerly ''[[Nothofagus]]'').<ref name="Wilson" />{{rp||page=|pages=224–226}} In the understory can be found wheki-ponga (''[[Dicksonia fibrosa]]''), distinguished by its skirt of dead fronds, marble-leaf (''[[Carpodetus serratus]]''), and the climbing rātā ''[[Metrosideros perforata]]''. On the forest floor ferns include crown fern (''[[Lomaria discolor]]''), hanging spleenwort (''[[Asplenium flaccidum]]'') growing as an epiphyte on tree trunks, Prince of Wales feathers fern (''[[Leptopteris superba]]''), and filmy ferns (''[[Hymenophyllum]]''). These are most easily observed from the Rakaitane Walk.<ref name="Wilson" />{{rp||page=|pages=224–226}}
Māori occupied both Takataka (Refuge Island) and Takatakaiti until about 1850, clearing all the forest and leaving only bracken fern (''[[Pteridium esculentum]]''). Because the islands have no deer or possums, vegetation was able to regenerate undisturbed. Takataka was declared a Scenic Reserve in 1944.<ref name="LakeBrunnerMemories" />{{rp|11}} A vegetation survey in 1978 found young podocarp forest on the southern part of Takataka and scrub elsewhere; this has since become low forest, with only a small patch of bracken remaining.<ref name="Wilson" />{{rp||page=|pages=224–226}}
The [[phytoplankton]] of Lake Brunner is composed mostly of [[diatom]]s, [[Chlorophyceae]], and [[Golden algae|Chrysophyceae]]. It contains species of ''[[Staurastrum]]'', ''[[Volvox]]'', and ''[[Asterionella]]'' (specifically ''[[Asterionella formosa]]'') that are common in lakes on the East Coast, but rare in the West.<ref name="JollyBrown" />{{rp||pages=187–188}}
== Fauna == [[File:TWC Lake Brunner • Stewart Nimmo • MRD 12.jpg|thumb|Fishing on Lake Brunner]] Both the white-faced heron (''[[Egretta novaehollandiae]]'') and the white heron / kōtuku (''[[Ardea modesta]]'') occur at Lake Brunner, and waterfowl include black swans (''[[Cygnus atratus]]''), Canada geese (''[[Branta canadensis]]''), scaup (''[[Aythya novaeseelandiae]]''), paradise shelducks (''[[Tadorna variegata]]''), grey ducks (''[[Anas superciliosa]]''), mallards (''[[Anas platyrhynchos|A. platyrhynchos]]''), and coots (''[[Fulica atra]]''). Little shags (''[[Phalacrocorax melanoleucos]]'') and black shags (''[[Phlacrocorax carbo|P. carbo]]'') can both be found. Birdlife is most common and easily observed in Iveagh Bay.<ref name="Wilson" />{{rp||page=223}} [[New Zealand fernbird|Fernbirds]] can often be seen in the mixed kahikatea/flax vegetation on the track to Bain Bay.
The [[New Zealand freshwater mussel]] (''Hyridella menziesi'') is found in Lake Brunner.<ref name="cooke" /> It is the only South Island lake with the calanoid copepod ''[[Boeckella delicata]]''.<ref name="JollyBrown" />{{rp||pages=|page=210}}
=== Fishing === [[File:TWC Lake Brunner • Stewart Nimmo • MRD 18.jpg|thumb|[[Brown trout]] (''Salmo trutta'')]] Fishing for eels at the lake was popular amongst both Māori and European settlers. Today, though, Lake Brunner is one of New Zealand's most significant [[brown trout]] (''Salmo trutta'') fisheries, and is often referred to as "the place where fish die of old age".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morton |first=Greg |date=November 2020 |title=West Coast Freshwater Fishing Opportunities |url=https://www.fishing.net.nz/fishing-advice/general-articles/west-coast-freshwater-fishing-opportunities/ |access-date=20 July 2022 |website=The Fishing Website |language=en |archive-date=20 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720113719/https://www.fishing.net.nz/fishing-advice/general-articles/west-coast-freshwater-fishing-opportunities/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Lake Brunner |url=https://nzfishing.com/west-coast/where-to-fish/lake-brunner/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712074441/https://nzfishing.com/west-coast/where-to-fish/lake-brunner/ |archive-date=12 July 2022 |access-date=12 July 2022 |website=nzfishing.com |language=en-US}}</ref> There are also small numbers of [[rainbow trout]] (''Oncorhynchus mykiss).'' Rainbow trout originate in North America, and brown trout are a European game fish introduced throughout New Zealand following the establishment of a hatchery in Tasmania in the 1860s. In 1891, 15,000 young trout were transported from Greymouth by rail to stock the lake. Smelt (''[[Retropinna retropinna]]'') were also liberated in Lake Brunner to serve as food for trout, but did not establish.<ref name="JollyBrown" />{{rp||pages=|page=295}}
Trout are caught from boats in the shallow lake waters, especially Iveagh Bay, or by fly fishing in the Orangaipuku, Hohonum or Crooked Rivers and the mouth of the Arnold River. The fish are abundant but not large—only 1 to 1.5 kg.<ref name=":1" /> The temperate West Coast climate means trout can still be caught in winter, when in the cooler eastern South Island lakes they are much less active.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Langlands |first=Peter |date=August 2014 |title=Trout fishing – Southern Lakes, NZ |url=https://www.fishing.net.nz/fishing-advice/how-to/trout-fishing-southern-lakes-nz/ |access-date=20 July 2022 |website=The Fishing Website |language=en |archive-date=15 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215054200/https://www.fishing.net.nz/fishing-advice/how-to/trout-fishing-southern-lakes-nz/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Recreation == [[File:Rakaitane Walk MRD 15.jpg|thumb|Rakaitane Walk beside the Arnold River]] [[File:TWC Lake Brunner • Stewart Nimmo • MRD 21.jpg|thumb|Kayaking at Cashmere Bay]] The lake was early on recognised for its natural beauty, and in 1887 a tourist account celebrated the impending railway, and the lake "soon will be dotted with handsome villas, the summer residence of the aristocracy of Greymouth and the surrounding districts." Sailing was a popular early activity, and in 1892 the first regatta attracted a trainload of 350 sightseers. The growth of tourism led to the opening in 1931 of the 22-room Grand Chateau Moana, which went bankrupt the following year. A motor camp was built in 1959 in Moana, and a jetty, slipway, and car park in 1961. In the 1960s building a holiday home or "bach" at Moana or Iveagh Bay became popular with Christchurch or Greymouth families. There are boat launching ramps at Moana, Te Kinga (with lake access at Cashmere Bay), and Mitchells. Iveagh Bay was once a backwater, but has rapidly-increasing numbers of expensive holiday mansions.<ref name="Wilson" />{{rp|pages=223}}
Swimming, kayaking, waterskiing, and jetskis are all popular at Lake Brunner. Because the lake is fed from surrounding forest, not snow, it can reach pleasant temperatures in summer. The lake is surrounded by bush walks: Carew Falls and Bain Bay (currently closed) from Mitchells,<ref name=":3" /> the Mount Te Kinga / Aora o Te Kinga Track from Iveagh Bay,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mount Te Kinga Track/Ara O Te Kinga |url=https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/west-coast/places/lake-brunner-area/things-to-do/tracks/mount-te-kinga-ara-o-te-kinga-track/ |access-date=20 July 2022 |website=www.doc.govt.nz |language=en-nz |archive-date=6 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706080729/https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/west-coast/places/lake-brunner-area/things-to-do/tracks/mount-te-kinga-ara-o-te-kinga-track/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and the short Valenski Walk and Rakaitane Track from Moana.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lake Brunner (Moana) (north) walks |url=https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/west-coast/places/lake-brunner-area/things-to-do/tracks/lake-brunner-moana-north-walks/ |access-date=20 July 2022 |website=www.doc.govt.nz |language=en-nz |archive-date=5 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220805074417/https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/west-coast/places/lake-brunner-area/things-to-do/tracks/lake-brunner-moana-north-walks/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Water quality== {{see also|Water pollution in the West Coast Region}} Lake Brunner is recognised for its ecological value and importance to the [[tangata whenua]], to tourism and to fisheries.<ref name="Rooney">{{Cite web |last=Rooney |first=Renee |date=16 November 2014 |title=Working for the sake of the lake |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/63264786/working-for-the-sake-of-the-lake |access-date=17 July 2022 |website=Stuff |language=en |archive-date=28 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150328144637/http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/63264786/Working-for-the-sake-of-the-lake |url-status=live }}</ref> The lake is classified as [[Oligotrophic lake|oligotrophic]], meaning that it has naturally low levels of nutrients, low levels of algae and the water is of high quality. Regular monitoring of water quality in Lake Brunner began in the early 1990s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lake Brunner Water Quality |url=https://www.wcrc.govt.nz/environment/water/surface-water/lake-brunner-water-quality |access-date=17 July 2022 |website=West Coast Regional Council |archive-date=7 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707173326/https://www.wcrc.govt.nz/environment/water/surface-water/lake-brunner-water-quality |url-status=live }}</ref> A report in 2006 identified declining water quality,<ref>{{cite book |last=Hamill |first=Keith |url=http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/ser/snapshot-lake-water-quality-nov06/snapshot-lake-water-quality-nov06.pdf |title=Snapshot of Lake Water Quality in New Zealand |publisher=Ministry for the Environment |year=2006 |isbn=0-478-30107-3 |series=ME number: 776 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100523165858/http://www.mfe.govt.nz/publications/ser/snapshot-lake-water-quality-nov06/snapshot-lake-water-quality-nov06.pdf |archive-date=23 May 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and this was followed in 2010 by an update describing increasing nutrient levels in surface water, increasing [[chlorophyll]] (an indicator of biomass of algae), and a decrease in water clarity. The report suggested that intensification of agriculture in the catchment area could be the cause of the deterioration.<ref>{{cite web |date=May 2010 |title=Lake Brunner water quality update: May 2010 |url=http://www.wcrc.govt.nz/Resources/Documents/Publications/Environmental%20Management/Council%20Monitoring%20Reports/Lake%20Brunner%20WQ%20update%202009.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522190410/http://www.wcrc.govt.nz/Resources/Documents/Publications/Environmental%20Management/Council%20Monitoring%20Reports/Lake%20Brunner%20WQ%20update%202009.pdf |archive-date=22 May 2010 |access-date=8 August 2010 |publisher=West Coast Regional Council}}</ref>
There are 25 dairy farms in the catchment area of Lake Brunner.<ref name="landcare">{{Cite book |date=July 2014 |title=Catchment management – working together |url=https://www.landcare.org.nz/file/file5d0703d867c83/open |isbn=978-0-9941066-2-9 |access-date=17 July 2022 |archive-date=3 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203182247/https://www.landcare.org.nz/file/file5d0703d867c83/open |url-status=live |last1=Barnett |first1=James |publisher=NZ Landcare Trust }}</ref> Dairy farmers responded to the concerns about deteriorating water quality by investing in [[Riparian zone|riparian]] planting, improved fencing of waterways and bridging of streams on their properties. Many also invested in improved effluent treatment systems.<ref name="Rooney" /> A community group, the Lake Brunner Community Catchment Care Group, was formed to support environmental initiatives include riparian planting around waterways on farms and on public land. The group comprised around 60 individuals, and had support from regional and local councils, NZ Landcare Trust, [[Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae]], [[Fish & Game New Zealand|Fish & Game]], the Brunner Residents Association, and representatives of the dairy industry, including [[Westland Milk Products]].<ref name="landcare" /> In 2016, at the Local Government Excellence Awards, the West Coast Regional Council received a "highly commended" award for its entry: ''Lake Brunner Water Quality Enhancement Project.''<ref>{{Cite web |last=LePla |first=Ruth |date=12 August 2016 |title=Lake Brunner Water Quality Enhancement Project is highly commended |url=https://localgovernmentmag.co.nz/lake-brunner-water-quality-enhancement-project/ |access-date=17 July 2022 |website=Local Government Magazine |language=en-US |archive-date=13 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220213134323/https://localgovernmentmag.co.nz/lake-brunner-water-quality-enhancement-project/ |url-status=live }}</ref> By 2021, it was reported that {{cvt|62|km}} of fencing had been constructed on farms in the catchment along with 21,000 plants in riparian strips.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Naish |first=Joanne |date=26 December 2021 |title=Water quality in New Zealand: Which lakes have improved and how can we learn from them? |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/127143103/water-quality-in-new-zealand-which-lakes-have-improved-and-how-can-we-learn-from-them |access-date=17 July 2022 |website=Stuff |language=en |archive-date=29 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211229010812/https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/127143103/water-quality-in-new-zealand-which-lakes-have-improved-and-how-can-we-learn-from-them |url-status=live }}</ref>
Water quality updates are published periodically by the West Coast Regional Council. The December 2021 update reports that the lake is safe for swimming and recreation, and has remained in an oligotrophic (low nutrient) state. The levels of phosphorus are graded A on the National Objectives Framework issued under the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management, and are sufficiently low that growth of algae is inhibited. Levels of total nitrogen and lakebed dissolved oxygen are graded B on the same scale.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 2021 |title=Lake Brunner water quality update |url=https://www.wcrc.govt.nz/repository/libraries/id:2459ikxj617q9ser65rr/hierarchy/Documents/Environment/Water/Surface%20Water/Lake%20Brunner%20Water%20Quality/Lake%20Brunner%20Water%20Quality%20Update%20Dec%202020 |access-date=17 July 2022 |website=West Coast Regional Council |archive-date=22 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220222032032/https://www.wcrc.govt.nz/repository/libraries/id:2459ikxj617q9ser65rr/hierarchy/Documents/Environment/Water/Surface%20Water/Lake%20Brunner%20Water%20Quality/Lake%20Brunner%20Water%20Quality%20Update%20Dec%202020 |url-status=live }}</ref>
== Gallery == <gallery mode="packed" heights="150" caption="Lake Brunner impressions"> File:TWC Lake Brunner • Stewart Nimmo • MRD 19.jpg File:TWC Lake Brunner • Stewart Nimmo • MRD 7.jpg File:TWC Lake Brunner • Stewart Nimmo • MRD 25.jpg File:TWC Lake Brunner • Stewart Nimmo • MRD 6.jpg </gallery>
==See also== *[[Lakes of New Zealand]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{Cite Q|Q113133597}}
==External links== {{commons category}} *[http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-visit/west-coast/greymouth/lake-brunner-kotuku-whakaoho/ Lake Brunner] at the [[Department of Conservation (New Zealand)|Department of Conservation]] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20100914200747/http://www.wcrc.govt.nz/state_of_the_environment/water_quality/brunner.htm Water Quality of Lake Brunner] at the West Coast Regional Council
{{Grey District}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brunner, Lake}} [[Category:Grey District]] [[Category:Lakes of the West Coast Region]]