The Gisborne District Council is picking up $830,000 in funding from the Ministry for Primary Industries Erosion Control Funding Programme (ECFP) to undertake high definition digital 3-D aerial mapping of the region to enable better informed erosion control and business decisions.
ECFP will fund the council’s use of the remote sensing tool LiDAR, which utilises laser pulses to generate large amounts of highly accurate geographical terrain data.
“With LiDAR’s accuracy we’ll be able to use better data to accurately assess erosion risks, increase the effectiveness of erosion control treatments, and evaluate the success of past land treatments,” Ministry for Primary Industry deputy director general, sector partnerships and programmes, Ben Dalton said.
Dalton said the East Coast is the region in New Zealand that is most prone to erosion.
The area also has great potential for further primary sector economic growth but, in many cases, Dalton noted, erosion significantly affects pastures and other productive land. Leaving eroded land untreated has a negative economic impact on hill country farms, infrastructure, rivers, water quality, people and communities.
“As a community we need to address erosion in the region now to ensure land remains sustainable for future generations. Addressing erosion control is a key component of succession planning,” Dalton said. “There will be long term social, environmental and economic benefits for the community through the direct and indirect improved decision-making.”
He added that LiDAR data will be free for public and commercial businesses to use in a wide range of areas, including infrastructure design and investment, urban planning, and across the primary sector in agriculture, forestry and horticulture.
Gisborne District Council chief executive Nedine Thatcher Swann, meanwhile, said: “The data will also assist in road design and planning and enable us to better map and manage natural hazards, such as flood-prone, tsunami and storm surge areas.
“It will enable accurate mapping of active faults, landslides and earthflows and other areas of instability,” she added.
The Gisborne District Council and Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) will also contribute funding to the initiative. LINZ plays a key role in increasing LiDAR coverage across New Zealand, working with councils to collect the data and making it widely available.
