EROSION BECOMING MORE SERIOUS IN TAUPO AREA

Taupo Times, Volume XIV, Issue 66, 24 August 1965, Page 7

EROSION BECOMING MORE SERIOUS IN TAUPO AREA

Erosion in Central Plateau pumice lands has w been getting worse, according to Mr J. L. Thomson, the Agriculture Department's district soil conservator. He said that erosion-prone soils of the Taupo region will soon be the target for a speeial team conducting land capability studies. The programme would begin early in September ^ and it will go on for about six months. The land north of Lake Taupo has been selected because it is representative of the soil and soil problems in the region, Mr Thomson aaid. Knowledge gained on the preliminary project would later be applied to a more widespread land capability « Study of the pumice lands of the Central Plateau. Mr Thomson will be r • taking part in the study, whlch is under the direction of Mr C. S. Harris, of Palmerston North, a department scientiftc oflicer. Erosion in the pumice c lands has been getting worse and it is now a serious problem. Mr Thomson said. The end aim of the study is r to help soil conservators " assess the maximum sustained economic capacity. . It's a matter of putting "production into perspective," he said. Conservation depends k on co-operation, he said, and Government departments and farmers must

work hand in hand to check the costly waste. There are only two soil conservators in this region — Mr Thomson and Mr Hunter Young, of the Waikato Valley Authority. Mr Thomson provides liaison and inspection services to the conservation groups covering about 11,000,000 acres. In addition to keeping a close eye on individual conservation projects financed by the Government through the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council, Mr Thomson provides a link between the council and the Hauraki Catchment Board, the Bay of Plenty Catchment Commission and the Waikato Valley Authority. Extensive soil maps of the region will be prepared. They will show the degree and length of slopes, the present vegetation and land use, roads, drainage and other factors. With this and other information, Mr Thomson said, the soil conservators will be in a better position to help farmers develop land saving conservation schemes. The conservators will establish what they call "land capability units" which will relate land use to erosion potential.