All sites (to a minimum area of 1 ha), which were not able to be mapped and described from existing information, were field surveyed. Most of the sites surveyed are larger than 1 ha but twelve sites less than 1 ha have been included. Other geothermal sites which have not been surveyed are listed in Appendix 3. Most of these sites are presumed to have no significant geothermal vegetation. Geothermal vegetation types were described for each site, and the extent of each type was mapped onto enlarged photocopies of aerial photographs at a scale of 1:5,000. Site boundaries were further refined in the office by viewing on a computer screen, which has a better resolution than printed aerial photographs. Field assessments addressed the following components: landscape diversity; naturalness, size and shape, surrounding landscape, representativeness, rarity and special features, long term viability, fragility and threat, current condition and management requirements. Refer to hard copy document: “Geothermal vegetation of the Waikato Region, 2014”.WRC Metadata: For further metadata please see feature GEOTHERMAL_HABITAT_2014 in dataset Geothermal Vegetation Inventory - GIS Layer
