This report describes a process developed to interpret criteria listed in Policy 23 of the Wellington Regional Policy Statement to identify and evaluate coastal and freshwater habitats in the Wellington region possessing "significant biodiversity values" for indigenous birds.

A panel of ornithological experts was convened to devise a means by which Policy 23 criteria could be translated to be "fit-for-purpose" for identifying coastal and freshwater habitats of significance for indigenous birds. The panel then applied these translation criteria to a list of 166 candidate sites that had been identified during an earlier desktop review of distribution and abundance data for threatened and "at risk" birds in the Wellington region.

Fifty-two (31%) of the 166 sites were identified as meeting these Policy 23 translation criteria and it is recommended that these sites be included in Schedule F2 of the draft Natural Resources Plan for the Wellington region. Information describing the location, bird values and critical periods for each site is summarised in the appendices to this report.