Land Use Capability Survey Handbook - a New Zealand handbook for the classification of land 3rd ed.

New Zealand’s productive landscape is built upon the diversity and capability of land. Each landscape combination of soil, climate, and landform is uniquely different, with each having its own production potentials, alternative uses, and individual management requirements for sustainable production.

Land Use Capability
Realising land potentials requires a knowledgeable understanding of the land resource to begin with. Land Use Capability (LUC) is a complete system for not only identifying and describing individual units of land, but also for assessing the capability of those units against a national classification reference. This is a robust and established system that has been used in NZ agriculture and resource management since 1952.

The LUC Survey Handbook
This Handbook introduces the reader to the contemporary methods and standards of the LUC system, including:
1. How to prepare a physical inventory of the land resource.
2. How to rank land according to its general capability for sustained production.
3. How to identify the dominant limitation to sustainable use.
4. How to classify similar areas of land for selective use and management.

The intended audience is beginner and experienced surveyors, but the Handbook is suitable reading material for any person with a need or interest in finding out about LUC and its practical application.

The Handbook has been produced with robust spiral binding and waterproof and tear proof paper in order to withstand use in the field.

A low-resolution version is also available for download.

Categories:

• Land Management
• Land Resource Inventory (NZLRI)
• Soil Management