Map Preparation Guide

Bracken Land Map Requirement Guide

 

  • Good quality maps, (ideally 1:10 000 scale), showing local features (or even nearest village) are required to help build up a composite picture.
  • The (approximate) acreage of the actual bracken patch/es to be indicated, and these to be shaded in as well as can be judged- best done in green if possible. An overall approximate figure would be acceptable in cases where there are many small clumps of bracken each less than 2 acres and within a given field or area. Field numbers (and accompanying grid numbers) are helpful to both us and CRD.
  • In cases where the target bracken lies in an ill-defined piece of open mountain, it should be simply marked, as well as can be judged, (preferably in green), and the approximate acreage stated as above, but including the approximate Ordnance Survey map grid reference.
  • Highlight in blue pen/biro all water courses within 150 metres of the target bracken: similarly any wells/springs in this area whose water is used for human consumption must also be shown and also the extraction point/s.
  • Footpaths should be marked if not already shown on the map, and open access areas should be indicated where applicable.
  • Enter full name, address and phone number on the map.

A good clear map will enhance our efforts to obtain the (now mandatory) Permit from CRD upon your behalf which will allow the job to proceed. Map copies that cannot be accepted include tracings, computer generated/simulated schematic maps, free-hand sketches and ancient farm deed type maps.

Note: When assessing approximate area of actual bracken to be treated, beware of understating the acreage: in particular make due allowance for the slope factor. Land on a 45 degree slope (i.e. one almost impossible to walk up) will still be measured on the map as though flat: an area shown as only 10 acres by the map will, on such a steep slope, be well over 12 acres in real terms! As an illustration consider what happens to a 2-foot wide corrugated iron sheet if you roll it flat – it becomes almost 30% wider! If a pilot is given only 10 ares worth of chemical to spray over a 12.5 acre area of land, a poorer level of kill will result. Therefore it is better to slightly overstate the acreage than to understate.