Waikato Regional Council has secured $3.7 million in government funding for landowners to spend on hill country erosion management work. The funding comes as part of a $34 million government investment for the Hill Country Erosion Fund, which supports proposals to protect NZ’s most vulnerable hill country landscapes.

According to the council, the money will go towards riparian and reversion work, willow and poplar pole planting, retirement and plantation forestry/mānuka planting in the Lower Waikato, Central, West Coast, Waipā and Coromandel zones.

Further details will be provided to farmers in specific catchments once details on the use of the funding have been confirmed with MPI, Waikato Regional Council Waipā zone manager Grant Blackie said.

“We had so many landowners wanting to do hill country erosion control on their properties that demand outstripped funding available, and that’s why we applied for more money for more zones this year,” he noted.

“In New Zealand, the annual cost of hill country erosion is over $100 million a year in lost soil, nutrients and production, and damage to trees, houses, infrastructure and waterways,” Waikato regional councillor Stu Kneebone added. “It’s great to have the incentives to help those who are prepared to do something about it.”