The land area of Marlborough covers 10,321 square kilometres. It is a rich and varied landscape with an array of spectacular landforms including mountain ranges, hill country, valleys, coastal margins and offshore islands. These landscapes, in combination with a diverse climate, geology and soils, have created an environment suited to a wide diversity of native plant and animal species, many unique to Marlborough.
The varied nature of our physical environment has enabled people to engage in a wide range of land use activities throughout the region including agriculture, viticulture and forestry. Our towns, roads and other infrastructure are also important occupiers of the environment. It is important to recognise that as a community we rely on the use and development of land resources for our cultural, social and economic wellbeing.
However, both rural and urban land use and development have the potential to adversely affect our land resources. Some land use activities, if not well managed, may result in the deterioration of the land resource.
Council has legislative responsibilities to monitor the condition of the land resource and researches the pressures human activity places on that resource. Monitoring programmes include soil quality, land use and cover, and land/water quality interactions. Where Council requires more information about pressures on the land resource, the Land and Water team conducts scientific investigations. These include, research into GIS-based spatial tools, soil mapping and targeted investigations on environmental issues. Part of the Land and Water teams role is to ensure Council is kept up to date with the latest land-related research for our region.
If you are looking for information about contaminated land (HAIL) visit our webpage below:
Go to our Hail - Contaminated Land webpage
