Soil & Water (Mud and Slush)

When will we learn?

         We should not forget our history, otherwise, we will repeat our mistakes.

         This is not the first time we have had soil and water problems in the Esk Valley region of Hawke’s Bay. In 1938 we had bad floods in the Esk Valley. 

         At that time the late Doug Campbell was a teacher at Napier Boys High School, teaching agricultural science and researching soil runoff.

         In 1942 he was appointed technical officer of the Soil Conservation and River Control Council and later became the senior Soil Conservator for the Ministry of Works after he was transferred from the position of Chief Advisory Officer of Soil and Water from the Department of Agriculture.

         They worked in conjunction with the Soil Bureau of D.S.I.R. who were researching our soils and our soil problems.

         There were scientists, engineers, and agriculturalists all working and advising on soil conservation problems.

         They even had their own nursery growing selecting the best poplar and willow trees to help stabilize hillsides from slipping. These were readily made available to farmers together with sound advice from their advisory services.

         With the cost savings pursued by the Lange Government, many of the research and advisory roles that the central government once provided were either privatized or just ceased to exist.

          Many of our best soils have been and are being lost to urbanization and soils prone to erosion have not been retired to regenerate but have been put into clear-fell forestry which has resulted in the recent devastating ‘slash’ floods.

          We have made many mistakes for short-term gains. It’s not finished yet, we still have more lessons to learn.

Geoffrey Moss(mossassociates.co.nz)

“One who makes a mistake and does nothing to correct it is committing another mistake.”