Government investing $3.6 million to prevent farm land erosion and soil going into waterways

Poplar pole planting being carried out as part of Horizons Regional Council's sustainable land use initiative.

The Government is putting $3.6 million towards Horizons Regional Council’s ongoing work around reducing land erosion and building resilience to extreme weather.

The money from Te Uru Rākau - New Zealand Forest Service’s Hill Country Erosion Fund was going towards a further four years of funding for Horizons’ sustainable land use intiative.

Horizons group manager of catchment operations Jon Roygard said Te Uru Rākau’s support would help boost on-farm work such as forestry or reversion of land in pasture to native cover.

“On top of the funding received, we project landowners will be investing over $13m over the next four years and Horizons’ ratepayers will also be contributing over $18m.”

Roygard said Horizons welcomed calls from landowners who were interested in taking advantage of the funding available.

“If your property has hill country land, please get in touch via our free phone number 0508 800 800 so we can discuss what can be done on your farm.”

Roygard said over 52,400 hectares of erosion control works had been completed in the past and Horizons had built relationships with more than 780 landowners, which represented over half of the highly erodible land in the region.

“Since Horizons’ sustainable land use initiative began in 2007, over 29m trees have been planted.

“The farm plans and identified works aim to keep valuable soil on our hills and out of waterways by targeting the most at-risk areas in the region.”

Te Uru Rākau grant manager Helen Somerville said “fantastic work” had been carried out with regard to storm resilience, re-vegetating vulnerable land and improving water quality in rivers.

“This work is vital to protecting our precious natural resources and ensuring better outcomes for New Zealanders.”

For more information about the sustainable land use initiative programme, please visit horizons.govt.nz.