The Stock Exclusion Low Slope Land 2020 layer identifies areas of "low slope land" as defined in the Resource Management (Stock Exclusion) Regulations 2020. The layer shows the land parcels, or part parcels, defined as low slope land. These areas have a mean slope is less than or equal to 10 degrees. Parcels with a parcel intent of "ROAD" are excluded. Areas of lakes, ponds, settlements and urban parkland, as defined in Land Cover Database 5, are also excluded. Areas of low-slope grassland and annual cropland within high-slope parcels are also included in the Stock Exclusion Low Slope Land extent.

The New Zealand Land Cover Database (LCDB) is a multi-temporal, thematic classification of New Zealand's land cover. It identifies 33 mainland land cover classes (35 classes once the offshore Chatham Islands are included). The classification was revised between versions 1, 2, and 3 but has been consistent thereafter, and always with backward compatibility maintained. Land cover features are described by a polygon boundary, a land cover code, and a land cover name at each nominal time step; summer 1996/97, summer 2001/02, summer 2008/09, summer 2012/13, and summer 2018/19. The data set is designed to complement in theme, scale and accuracy, New Zealand’s 1:50,000 topographic database (https://www.linz.govt.nz/land/maps/topographic-maps/topo50-maps). LCDB is suitable for use in national and regional environment monitoring, forest and shrubland inventory, biodiversity assessment, trend analysis and infrastructure planning. The classification used in LCDBv5.0 is presented in the document 'LCDBClassesAtVersion5.pdf' and a table correlating LCDB classes over all versions is presented in the document 'LCDBClassCorrelations.pdf'. Both of these are among the accessory documents to this dataset in the LRIS portal (https://lris.scinfo.org.nz/). LCDB version 5.0 was released in January 2020 and includes corrections to all time steps1997/97, 2001/02, 2008/09, 2012/13 and 2018/19 for both the New Zealand mainland and Chatham Islands. A description of work undertaken for this release (including that of all earlier releases) is presented in the Lineage section. Of particular note at version 5.0 is the addition to LCDB, of attributes designed to readily identify and monitor wetlands over time and a similar capability to manage significant coastal changes. “EditAuthority” and "EditDate" are attributes, maintained since version 3.0 to indicate authorship and nominal date of polygon mapping, edit or change. Errors in the data due to misclassification (rather than land cover change) or poor delineation can be reported to Landcare Research for inclusion in the next release using the online feedback facility in https://lris.scinfo.org.nz/.

The Land Use Map is composed of New Zealand-wide land use classifications (12) nominally at 1 January 1990, 1 January 2008, 31 December 2012 and 31 December 2016 (known as "1990", "2008", "2012" and "2016"). These date boundaries were dictated by the First and Second Commitment Periods of the Kyoto Protocol. The layer can therefore be used to create either a 1990, 2008, 2012 or 2016 land use map depending on what field is symbolised.

The StockEx LSL 2021 proposed layer identifies proposed areas of "low slope land" where the Resource Management (Stock Exclusion) Regulations 2020 would apply if the low slope land map was updated as proposed in the "Stock exclusion regulations: Proposed changes to the low slope map" (MfE, 2021) discussion document. The layer shows the area of land defined as low slope land. These areas have a local mean slope is less than or equal to 5 degrees and are below 500m in altitude. Areas of lakes and ponds, estuarine open water, built-up areas, transport infrastructure, depleted grass, tall tussock grassland and urban parkland, as defined in Land Cover Database 5, are also excluded.

Field Description: NZReach Unique national identifier ReachID Unique regional identifier Tnode To node – used for network directionFnode From node – used for network direction Length Length of river section (m )Climate Climate level classCSoF Source-of-Flow level classCSoFG Geology level classCSoFGL Land-Cover level classCSoFGLNP Network-Position level classCSoFGLNPVL Valley-Landform level classSrc_of_flw Source-of-Flow factor category Geology Geology factor categoryLandcover Land-Cover factor categoryNet_posn Network-Position factor categoryVly_Lfrm Valley-Landform factor categoryOrder Stream order The Field "NZREACH" is the unique field used for joining to all other REC1 data that is available, but not included in the variables above.

The Chatham Islands Land Use Map is composed of 12 land use classifications nominally at 1 January 1990, 1 January 2008, 31 December 2012 and 31 December 2016 (known as "1990", "2008", "2012" and "2016") and was created using broadly the same methodology as was used for mainland LUCAS NZ LUM 2016. These date boundaries were dictated by the First and Second Commitment Periods of the Kyoto Protocol. The layer can therefore be used to create either a 1990, 2008, 2012 or 2016 land use map depending on what field is symbolised.

Field- Descriptionfor REC variablesNZReach-Unique national identifier. This is the data field that is used to join to other REC1 datasets where "NZREACH" is the unique identifier.Order-Stream orderField descriptionsfor HUC1. Runoff is represented by threefields"Localrunoff_mm_yr""Runoff_mm_yr""Flow_L_s"Localrunoff_mm_yr is the predicted mean annual runoff in mm/year from the local land area that drains to an REC reachRunoff_mm_yr is the predicted mean annual runoff in mm/year from the entire upstream catchment that drains to an REC reachFlow_L_s is the predicted mean flow in L/s from the entire upstream catchment that drains to an REC reachThese data are those published in Woods, R. A., J. Hendrikx, R. D. Henderson and A. B. Tait (2006). “Mean Flow Hydrology of New Zealand Rivers.” Journal of Hydrology (NZ) 45(2): 95-110.The research was funded through a FRST-funded project "Land Use Intensification: Sustainable Management of Water Quantity and Quality (C01X0304)"2. The fourflood statistics are calculated for every reach in the River Environment Classification network. These flood statistics were obtained for each REC reach by finding the centroid of the catchment that drains to every reach, and then looking up the mapped McKerchar and Pearson value at the centroid. For catchments draining the Southern Alps to the southeast from the Waimakariri to Fiordland, an upstream searching algorithm (which finds the reach with catchment rain close to the catchment average, and uses that location to obtain a value of the parameter) was used to mimic as far as practical McKerchar and Pearson's description at p17.The four flood statistics are:q_a_0_8_reach (mean annual flood divided by area to the power of 0.8 - has units of m3/s / (sqkm)^0.8 )q100_reach (ratio of 100-year flood to mean annual flood - dimensionless)Qbar_reach_cumecs (in units of m3/s)Q100_reach_cumecs (in units of m3/s)McKerchar, A. I. and C. P. Pearson (1989). Flood Frequency in New Zealand. Hydrology Centre Publication No. 20, DSIR Division of Water Sciences, Christchurch, N.Z. p87. Pearson, C. P. and A. I. McKerchar (1989). “Flood Estimation - A Revised Procedure.” Transactions of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand 16(2/CE): 59-65. 3.The fields in this directory are the result of development of a low flow model for New Zealand.Thefourfields in the file are named"Areaa", "Qla_nmps","Qla_lps""RivName"Areaa is the accumulated catchment area draining to the reach.Qla_nmps is the predicted 7-day mean annual specific low flow from the catchment area draining to the reach, expressed as nm/s, or l/s/km^2.Qla_lps is the predicted 7-day mean annual low flow from the catchment area draining to the reach, expressed as L/s.RivName is the name of the waterway, (not all waterways are named).The fields describing NZmonthlyflowratios are the result of joining the island ratios as described below, to the REC by CSoF classes, for each island. It contains the following fields:Jan, Feb,Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug,Sep, Oct, Nov, DecThe values Jan, Feb etc are the ratios of monthly flow to mean flow.If you know that the long term mean flow of a Cool Dry Lowland river in the North Island is 20 m3/s, then this data predicts that the long-term mean flow in January is 20*0.16=3.2 m3/sField description for BookerBooker2014 contains three columns. These are predictions from the random forest method as described in Booker and Woods (2014), with mean daily flow data collated March 2013. MeanFlowCumecs = mean flow (m3s-1)MALFCumecs = 7-day mean annual low flow (m3s-1)MeanAnnualFloodCumecs = Mean Annual flood as calculated from mean daily flows (not instantaneous flows) (m3s-1)Booker, D.J.; Woods, R.A. 2014: Comparing and combining physically-based and empirically-based approaches for estimating the hydrology of ungauged catchments. Journal of Hydrology DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.11.007.

The New Zealand Fundamental Soil Layer originates from a relational join of features from two databases: the New Zealand Land Resource Inventory (NZLRI), and the National Soils Database (NSD). The NZLRI is a national polygon database of physical land resource information, including a soil unit. Soil is one in an inventory of five physical factors (including rock, slope, erosion, and vegetation) delineated by physiographic polygons at approximately 1:50,000 scale. The NSD is a point database of soil physical, chemical, and mineralological characteristics for over 1500 soil profiles nationally. A relational join between the NZLRI dominant soil and derivative tables from the NSD was the means by which 14 important soil attributes were attached to the NZLRI polygons. Some if these attributes originate from exact matches with NSD records, while others derive from matches to similar soils or professional estimates.The polygon set used in this layer is equivalent to NZLRI Version 3.1, dissolved on soil. Soil attribute data derive from regional soil legends and the NSD as at 1999 Incidental error correction has occurred as necessaryAccuracy of soil attribute values is dependant on the variability of the soil unit over its entire geographic extent and the origin of the estimate (recorded in the _EST fields)Polygons derive from the multi-factor, homogenous unit area mapping of the NZLRI. This method often delineates features at a lower resolution than a single factor map of equivalent scale.While NZLRI mapping scale remained constant (at 1:63,360 and later 1:50,000), polygon resolution increased in detail as the survey progressed, and was variably constrained by the quality of source information available to the mapperhttp://lris.scinfo.org.nz/layer/136/ & https://lris.scinfo.org.nz/layer/48137-fsl-south-island-all-attributes/

The New Zealand Fundamental Soil Layer originates from a relational join of features from two databases: the New Zealand Land Resource Inventory (NZLRI), and the National Soils Database (NSD). The NZLRI is a national polygon database of physical land resource information, including a soil unit. Soil is one in an inventory of five physical factors (including rock, slope, erosion, and vegetation) delineated by physiographic polygons at approximately 1:50,000 scale. The NSD is a point database of soil physical, chemical, and mineralological characteristics for over 1500 soil profiles nationally. A relational join between the NZLRI dominant soil and derivative tables from the NSD was the means by which 14 important soil attributes were attached to the NZLRI polygons. Some if these attributes originate from exact matches with NSD records, while others derive from matches to similar soils or professional estimates.The polygon set used in this layer is equivalent to NZLRI Version 3.1, dissolved on soil. Soil attribute data derive from regional soil legends and the NSD as at 1999 Incidental error correction has occurred as necessaryAccuracy of soil attribute values is dependant on the variability of the soil unit over its entire geographic extent and the origin of the estimate (recorded in the _EST fields)Polygons derive from the multi-factor, homogenous unit area mapping of the NZLRI. This method often delineates features at a lower resolution than a single factor map of equivalent scale.While NZLRI mapping scale remained constant (at 1:63,360 and later 1:50,000), polygon resolution increased in detail as the survey progressed, and was variably constrained by the quality of source information available to the mapperhttp://lris.scinfo.org.nz/layer/136/ & https://lris.scinfo.org.nz/layer/48136-fsl-north-island-all-attributes/metadata/

The New Zealand Fundamental Soil Layer originates from a relational join of features from two databases: the New Zealand Land Resource Inventory (NZLRI), and the National Soils Database (NSD). The NZLRI is a national polygon database of physical land resource information, including a soil unit. Soil is one in an inventory of five physical factors (including rock, slope, erosion, and vegetation) delineated by physiographic polygons at approximately 1:50,000 scale. The NSD is a point database of soil physical, chemical, and mineralological characteristics for over 1500 soil profiles nationally. A relational join between the NZLRI dominant soil and derivative tables from the NSD was the means by which 14 important soil attributes were attached to the NZLRI polygons. Some if these attributes originate from exact matches with NSD records, while others derive from matches to similar soils or professional estimates.The polygon set used in this layer is equivalent to NZLRI Version 3.1, dissolved on soil. Soil attribute data derive from regional soil legends and the NSD as at 1999 Incidental error correction has occurred as necessaryAccuracy of soil attribute values is dependant on the variability of the soil unit over its entire geographic extent and the origin of the estimate (recorded in the _EST fields)Polygons derive from the multi-factor, homogenous unit area mapping of the NZLRI. This method often delineates features at a lower resolution than a single factor map of equivalent scale.While NZLRI mapping scale remained constant (at 1:63,360 and later 1:50,000), polygon resolution increased in detail as the survey progressed, and was variably constrained by the quality of source information available to the mapperhttp://lris.scinfo.org.nz/layer/136/ & https://lris.scinfo.org.nz/layer/48136-fsl-north-island-all-attributes/metadata/