Long-term catchment farm system responses to land use change in North Island hill country
An area of native plantings on the Whatawhata integrated catchment farm
Tuesday 24 February 10:30–11:00 am
Presenters: Mike Dodd, Bioeconomy Science Instutute, and Andrew Hughes, Earth Sciences NZ
The Whatawhata Integrated Catchment Management project is New Zealand’s longest-running before-after-control-impact catchment farm system study. It has been monitoring the economic and environmental impacts of land use changes in the 260-hectare Mangaotama Block (western Waikato hill country) over 30 years. The changes implemented in 2001 included:
- extensive pine plantation (140 ha)
- indigenous vegetation restoration (12 ha)
- spaced-poplar planting
- livestock exclusion from streams
- changing livestock enterprises from breeding to finishing
Long-term monitoring has assessed the impacts on water quality, indigenous biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions and farm system performance. Results indicate mixed outcomes over differing time scales. Some results were consistent with prior expectations based on modelling, others not. These findings provide insights for hill country farmers and policy developers seeking to understand realistic time frames for meeting land management goals in the long-term.
