Land Use Directory to help farmers with options for improved lake water quality

(From left) Wiremu Keepa, Lana Ngawhika, Tatiana Kiwi-Knight, Dr Tanira Kingi, Anna Grayling, Dave Donaldson, Doug Leeder and Bill Young were at the launch at GHA Centre. Photo/Supplied

A Rotorua Land Use Directory to help provide farmers with options for improved lake water quality has been launched.

It has been launched by Te Arawa Primary Sector and a collective of Maori owned land trusts, who own and administer over 30,000ha utilised within the primary sector (agriculture, horticulture, forestry and geothermal).

The land use directory was written by Bill Young and Tatiana Kiwi-Knight, and has been funded through the $3.3m Low Nitrogen Land Use Fund, provided by Bay of Plenty Regional Council and Ministry for the Environment.

"Extensive research was undertaken to put the guide together but the idea was to bring together market information and production information to give land users some insight into whether a particular land use may be for them," said Young.

Regional council chairman Doug Leeder said the guide would be invaluable for landowners as they looked at low nitrogen leaching land use options.

"We all want the same thing – a clean lake – and we all have a part to play in order to achieve that.

"For landowners that will mean making changes to the land to protect and improve lake water quality and we [BOPRC] are committed to supporting them to enable that."

The Low Nitrogen Land Use Fund was established to fund research that assists landowners with reducing the amount of nitrogen entering Lake Rotorua to sustainably meet water quality targets set by the community.

"TAPS should be proud of what they have produced today, both a high quality publication and a user-friendly website which will hopefully inspire a number of new projects as we look to open the fund for expressions of interest in 2018."

The "Rotorua Land Use Directory – Tahuri Whenua" is available as a website online at www.landusenz.org.nz or as a free hard-copy book from the Bay of Plenty Regional Council Rotorua office, Rotorua Library or at info@landusenz.org.nz.

It explores the viability of land uses for the Rotorua catchment including manuka, feijoa, ginseng and more.

The second round of funding for the Low Nitrogen Land Use Fund will open in 2018.

For more information on the fund and other projects visit www.rotorualakes.co.nz/low-nitrogen-land-use-fund