Abstract
South Westland is a remote part of New Zealand where farming is restricted to a narrow band of coastal plains and mountain bound alluvial flats, and occurs on a mixture of freehold and conservation estate concession leases. The region has the lowest density of stock in the country and stock numbers have remained static since 1996. These communities face continued pressure from regulatory restrictions on heavy stock grazing, yet little is known about the impact that farming has on their waterways. Monitoring of the water quality of 16 large river systems in south Westland shows that nutrient concentrations are near-pristine (i.e. <0.1 mg N L⁻¹), although there is a positive correlation between increasing pastoral land uses and NNN concentrations.