History of land development in the Lake Taupō catchment

Report: TR 2013/26

Author: Wildland Consultants Ltd

Abstract

Waikato Regional Council commissioned Wildland Consultants Ltd to map the extent of pasture in the north-eastern part of the Lake Taupō Catchment in the 1960s.

The Waikato Regional Council would like to improve knowledge around the factors affecting current levels of nitrogen input into Lake Taupo. As part of this, they have been looking at the history of land development in the Taupō Catchment, in particular the location and areas of land that may have been farmed prior to 1975, but were then converted to plantation forest.

In 2012-2013, Wildland Consultants undertook a scoping study on a selected part of the Taupō catchment and reported on the availability of historical aerial photographs for the Taupo Catchment that are suitable for mapping pasture extent (Wildland Consultants 2013). As part of this scoping study, the extent of pasture was mapped for 28,926 ha within the eastern catchment, using aerial photographs taken in 1958- 1965.

This report includes the mapping for 83,282 ha (part of which was also mapped in the earlier scoping study) within the north-eastern lake catchment, which is covered by aerials that were taken in 1965 (from the airport south to the headwaters of the Tauranga-Taupō River). The aerial photography for this area is held in digital format by WRC.

This technical report comprises two standalone reports, combined into one volume for ease of use.

Report 1:
History of land development in the Lake Taupō catchment: a scoping study
Report 2:
History of land development in the Lake Taupō catchment: phase 2, north-eastern area

History of land development in the Lake Taupo catchment [PDF, 1.6 MB]