| Abstract: | The East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand is world renowned for its severe erosion, flooding, and sedimentation. Extensive deforestation between 1880–1920 initiated this period of dramatic landscape transformation, and today reforestation is seen as the panacea. However, a century of pastoral farming has left a legacy of a highly degraded landscape, which is currently redistributing the products of this erosion. The rate and level of landscape recovery will influence the ability of communities to carry out future land use. This paper uses the results of a decade of geomorphic research into the controls and processes of landscape change to illustrate some of the likely future impacts on the landscape and its land use, and to identify some still unanswered questions. This increasing understanding, together with changing community attitudes, provides the opportunity to maximise the benefits of reforestation and other management interventions. |
