Soil stability in the Waikato region, 2007-2017

Report: TR 2021/30

Authors: T Norris, J Wyatt

Assessing soil erosion at the regional scale is an important component of the Waikato Regional Council’s statutory obligation under the Resource Management Act to monitor and report on the state of the region’s natural resources.

This report presents data and discusses results from a survey of soil stability and disturbance undertaken in 2021 using aerial imagery acquired during the summers of 2016/2017, 2017/2018, and 2018/2019.

The aims of this report are to:

• describe the state of key soil stability and disturbance attributes across the Waikato region by analysing 6,155 survey points overlaying the most up to date (2017) aerial imagery.
• assess soil stability and disturbance regionally and by catchment management zone;
• evaluate soil stability and disturbance by land-use type to identify links between land-use management and specific erosion types or issues.
• describe changes in soil stability attributes and soil disturbance, including exposure of bare soil, over the previous 5-year and 10-year periods (using 2007, 2012, and 2017 survey data); and
• review the survey design and recommend changes for future surveys if required.