Soil Conservation Technical Handbook

The Soil Conservation Handbook has now been published, and is available as a series of downloadable files (see below). 

The Ministry for the Environment contracted NZARM to print and distribute the Handbook. The fund this came from, the Best Management Practice Fund, came through MAF, and supported the previous governments governments' sustainable land management strategy. But it now has run its course and no longer exists.

Just a few summary points about the Handbook:

• It was written for soil conservators by soil conservators. In plain English but backed up with sufficient technical information where appropriate.

• Part A looks at the main types of erosion; mass movement, fluvial, surface and sediment erosion. For each chapter an introduction and history of each erosion type, including how it impacted on land use. The types, process and extent of each erosion are given, and the principles of control discussed.
• Part B looks at the practices of soil conservation that can be employed, and factors that will impact on the effectiveness are discussed.

• The handbook has been set up to be easily updateable, in particular each chapter is numbered individually as well as a folder format so you can add your own notes.

The Handbook does not give work recipes, but rather tries to enhance the readers understanding of what the practice can achieve so that each person can then put together their own programme.  Some guidelines are given to prompt the reader, but it does not try to give simple answers to at times difficult problems.

The Handbook can be downloaded here:

Part A	826 kb
Part B - Chapters 1-10	857 kb
Part B - Chapters 11-18	1110 kb
Appendices	336 kb