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Ranking of geothermal sites for biodiversity management in the Waikato region

TR 2015/08
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Report: TR 2015/08

Author: Wildland Consultants Ltd

About this report

Waikato Regional Council commissioned Wildland Consultants to revise the criteria set used for the ranking of geothermal habitats in the Waikato region.

The council's key requirements are that the review is to address the removal of criteria not relevant for geothermal habitats, the removal of any potential “double-dipping” with regards to site scoring, and simplification to ensure that the scoring system can be applied both efficiently and accurately. A key objective of the revision was to also design a single worksheet that includes all of the criteria, to enable the calculation of an overall site score.

This report provides:

  • an overview of the wider regional ranking criteria set.
  • a brief review of the wider regional ranking criteria set, to identify the criteria relevant to ranking geothermal sites.
  • identification of additional or newly-formulated criteria relevant to the ranking of geothermal sites.

It is important that the regional council is able to soundly prioritise potential biodiversity management effort in geothermal areas. These habitats are of very limited extent, occur at more than 60 sites, and many are degraded and/or under considerable threat.

Read or download the report

Ranking of geothermal sites for biodiversity management in the Waikato region [PDF, 685 KB]

Contents
1 Introduction 
2 Wider context
3 Regional crietria for management priorities
4 Geothermal-specific criteria
4.1 Overview
4.2 Original criteria to be retained, with modifications
4.3 Original criteria to be omitted
5 Ecological value criteria set
5.1 Overview
5.2 National priority (24 points)
5.3 Size (40 points)
5.4 Representativeness (75 points)
5.5 Proximity to other natural areas (15 points)
5.6 Threatened or At Risk Species (40 points)
6 Criteria set for management priorities
6.1 Overview
6.2 Vulnerability (24 points)
6.3 Restoration potential (20 points)
6.4 Outcome objectives (14 points)
6.5 Funding and management input (10 points)
7 Trial scoring of sites
7.1 Overview
7.2 Ecological value
7.3 Management priority
  Acknowledgements
  References
  Appendix 1: Species listed by Waikato Regional Council as qualifying for the 'extinction protection" criterion
  Appendix 2: Site rankings