Tararua Land Stability and Roading Resilience Project
Focusing on addressing land stability opportunities next to the road to build resilience into our roading network.
Tararua District Council and Tararua Alliance are working alongside Horizons Regional Council, Ministry of Social Development (MSD) and the Rural Support Trust to stabilise privately owned land next to the road that is at risk of dropouts or slips from future weather events.
With Tararua’s roading network being highly susceptible to damage during high intensity rainfall events - approximately 790 slips and 435 dropouts were recorded by Tararua Alliance following Cyclone Gabrielle - the initiative came about by Tararua Alliance following the Cyclone as a way to try and reduce the impact of future events on the road network and to minimise disruption to communities.
The project works alongside the Horizons Sustainable Land Use Initiative, which aims to protect hill country by working with farmers to reduce erosion on their land. With around 155 sites identified so far, a programme of work is now underway to assess what work is needed at each site to stabilise the land and mitigate the risks to the road.
The project also aims to contribute to social and economic outcomes within the District, by working with the Ministry of Social Development to provide opportunities for local people who are not currently in employment, education or training, to undertake planting work.
To download the fact sheet, click here
An example of sites that will be worked on:
Site on Weber Road where land is moving above the road
Site on Route 52 where soil is eroding below the road
Example of stabilised land planted with poplars
- The project works alongside the Horizons Sustainable Land Use Initiative (SLUI) which aims to protect our hill country by working with farmers to reduce erosion on their land.
- Stabilisation planting will be up to each landowner but may include planting of tree species suitable for erosion control (such as poplars and willows), with native infilling where appropriate.
- With funding support from MSD for planting labour, a procurement process is being undertaken from March 2025 to identify a suitable provider to recruit individuals not in employment, education or training and undertake planting during the winter months.
- The project aims to undertake stabilisation work for high-priority sites in Year 1 (2025), medium-priority sites in Year 2 (2026) and lower-priority sites in Year 3 (2027).
Cyclone Gabrielle and other weather events over the past few years have highlighted how vulnerable our roading network is to slips and dropouts during high intensity rainfall events. A significant proportion of land within the Tararua district is used for primary production and is made up of unique variances in topography, soil types and land use. Much of this land is hill country which can face slope movement at varying depths due to soil type, land use, moisture content and other factors. It is also difficult to plan for and maintain our rural roading network and associated drainage assets to a standard that can cope with high intensity rainfall events. There was an opportunity identified by the roading team to reduce the potential impacts from future weather events by addressing unstable land areas next to the road, through collaboration with landowners, the Cyclone Gabrielle Recovery Team and funding partners.
The work being undertaken during 2025 utilises existing SLUI and Environmental Grant funding through Horizons (which includes partnership funding from government through the Hill Country Environment Fund), Cyclone Recovery funding from Ministry of Social Development, recovery project support funding through Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, and also roading funding from NZTA. Funding availability will change after 2025 (particularly for Cyclone Gabrielle funding) and we will be working with our partners to continue the project in a more ‘business as usual’ capacity.
If you have an existing SLUI plan with Horizons, get in touch with your Land Management Advisor at Horizons and provide details of the site, including any relevant photos / map details. If not, please provide information via the Project Page on TDC’s website and we’ll be in touch. There is a limited amount of funding available for this project so we may not be able to address each site, but we’ll aim to prioritise and address the highest risk sites.
Each site will be different, and we’ll assess options alongside the landowner, but a typical site will include planting of poplar or willow poles. In some cases, drainage work may also be necessary to prevent land movement onto or below the road. We’ll work with landowners to find and agree on the most suitable option.
The aim of the project is to work alongside existing work programmes and utilise available funding to result in little or no additional cost to landowners. For some sites, depending on erosion susceptibility and funding criteria there may be a contribution needed towards plants, but we will work through this detail with each landowner, and it will ultimately be the landowner’s decision whether to proceed or not.