NZ Landcare Trust

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• NZ Landcare Trust
• Sustainable land management
• through community involvement

landcare action on the ground
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Sustainable Management

• The NZ Landcare Trust
• Sustainable Land Water Management
• Farming and ICM
• Participatory Research
• 2 Landowner ICM Projects
• Rotorua Lakes
• Aorere River, Tasman

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NZ Landcare Trust

• The Trust promotes an ethic of community-based
  environmental stewardship and responsibility.
• This community-based approach is extremely
  effective in advancing sustainable land and water
  management and solving environmental problems.

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NZ Landcare Trust

• Focuses on 4 key areas for advancing sustainable
  land management
• Supporting Landcare groups
• Fostering links with research providers
• Fostering relationships with regional authorities
• Providing facilitation and skills training

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NZ Landcare Trustees

• Federation of Maori Authorities
• Federated Farmers of New Zealand
• Rural Women New Zealand
• Ecologic Foundation
• Federated Mountain Clubs
• Royal Forest and Bird Society
• Fish and Game New Zealand

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Trust Achievements

• Supports 233 Landcare Groups across NZ
• Granted over 600,000 to 300 environmental
  restoration projects
• Involved over 90,000 hours of community and
  agency support
• Managed over 5.5 M of sustainable land and water
  management projects
• Focus on integrated catchment management for
  managing intensive land use effects on water
  quality

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NZ Landcare Trust ICM Initiatives

• National ICM
• Project
• Rotorua Lakes
• Lake Brunner
• Aorere River
• Waituna Lagoon
• Waikato Wetlands
• Taieri River
• Mangakahia River
• Urban Catchments
• Waitao River

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What is ICM?

• Watersheds are a logical way to divide
  landscapes and are ultimately the most
  appropriate analytical and management units for
  water quality improvement

• An approach that recognises the catchment or
  river basin as the appropriate organising unit
  for managing natural resources in a context that
  includes social, economic and political
  considerations

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ICM and Farming in NZ

• PCE Report - Growing for good Intensive farming,
  sustainability
• and New Zealands environment

Farming system redesign Non-point
sources Indicators of sustainable
agriculture Strategic leadership
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Increasing need for focus on

• Farming systems integrated into wider social,
  economic and environmental context
• Sustainable agriculture encouraged
• Proactive and preventative approach to
• Integrated Catchment Management

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ICM Beyond the Farm Scale
Linking farms with other farms Linking all uses
within catchment Understanding cumulative
effects Integrating water land planning
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Research Relationships

• Environmental outcomes require effective
  engagement between users and providers
• Access and awareness to research outcomes highly
  dependent on personal links
• Pool of users is huge relative to available
  scientists
• Legitimate concerns of users struggling to get
  information they need - particularly community
  organisations, iwi, and those with
  responsibilities for private land
• Connections between the science system and the
  majority of end-users need to be significantly
  improved.
• MoRST/FRST 2004

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Participatory Research

• Collaborative NRM, PAR, adaptive management

Recognising Local communities Local
landowners Local knowledge Indigenous knowledge
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Rotorua Landowners SFF Project
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Land/water Interface Research

• Sheep/beef vs. dairying
• Mitigation Options for P N
• Wintering off, nitrification inhibitors, cattle
  type, riparian management, constructed wetlands,
  grass filter strips, retention dams, harvesting
  aquatic macrophytes
• Landowner-driven through
• Rotorua Lakes Lake Trust
• AgResearch NIWA are partners
• NZ Landcare Trust managed

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Environmental/economic outcomes
Optimised system no N in winter, less maize
silage, all cows wintered off for 60 days After
Ledgard, S., Ghani, A., and Redding, M. 2006.
Rotorua Landowners Research Project SFF.
Newsletter Issue 2. AgResearch, Hamilton.
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The Aorere River
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Aorere River Catchment

• Aorere River is in the Tasman District draining
  into Golden Bay
• Enclosed valley with high rainfall
• 80 of catchment is very steep, native bush
  covered
• Flat valley floor is primarily used for dairying
  (16)
• Low levels of nitrogen and phosphorus
• Moderate pathogen levels faecal coliforms
• Greatest faecal coliform loads in floods

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The problem?
Marine farming and faecal coliforms dont mix
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Solutions

• Socio/Economic
• Costs/benefits of land management changes
• Incentives for adopting new technologies (BMPs
  and MOs)
• Landowner capability for change and
  training/support needs
• Natural Resource Science
• Land use mitigation options suited to varying
  environmental conditions (soils, climate, land
  use type)
• Improving linkages between land-based and water
  research
• Integration between environmental thresholds,
  environmental monitoring, catchment land use
  modelling, land use mitigation option adoption

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Finding a Balance
Science has its limitations so we have to look to
other sources of information and knowledge for a
balanced view. To achieve that balance, the NZ
Landcare Trust relies heavily on the involvement
of land users to develop effective solutions.