Story: Soil erosion and conservation

Vegetation cover surveys

Vegetation cover surveys

In order to measure the effects of continued grazing, or burning, on pasture cover in the tussock grasslands, and whether the amount of bare ground was increasing, the North Canterbury Catchment Board fenced off a number of 20-square-metre areas in the Waimakariri catchment in 1948. This photograph shows Catchment Board staff member (and later chief soil conservator) R. D. Dick making measurements within one of those areas. The contrast with the outside grazed area is obvious.

Using this item

Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Reference: L. W. McCaskill, Hold this land: a history of soil conservation in New Zealand. Wellington: A. H & A. W. Reed, 1973, p. 135

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How to cite this page:

Paul Gregg, 'Soil erosion and conservation - Surveys and research', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/19795/vegetation-cover-surveys (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Paul Gregg, published 24 Nov 2008