In just three years, Te Hoiere Project has partnered with the community to plant over 220,000 native trees, erect over 90 kilometres of fencing for waterways and wetlands, and much more. Now, a new study, Te Hoiere Water Quality Mitigation Effectiveness Monitoring Report 2025, shows these efforts to lessen impacts on freshwater are paying off to restore water quality.
Limited fencing subsidies are still available to June 2026 to help improve water quality in the catchment, says Te Hoiere Programme Manager Rachel Russell.
“Farmers who have participated in the programme have also told us that fencing has improved stock movement and grazing management, as well as reduced maintenance costs,” she says.
In late 2023, a monitoring programme began to gauge the effectiveness of land management changes through the Project. Assessing nine sites across Te Hoiere/Pelorus catchment, this new data was compared with a Marlborough District Council baseline water quality study undertaken in 2020/21.
The data shows that improvements have been most evident at sites with extensive fencing and riparian planting, Mrs Russell says.
“One site near Rai Valley showed significant decreases in nitrate, ammoniacal nitrogen and phosphorus levels, which aligned with the farm’s large-scale fencing and planting. Other sites in Linkwater and lower Te Hoiere are also showing improvements where there has been proactive land management,” she says.
Te Hoiere Project still has 50:50 subsidies available for fencing on private land until mid-2026. Support is also available for replacement of fish passage barriers, such as support for full replacement of culverts or simple solutions like fish passage ramps. Applicants may be landowners, land managers, community groups or iwi.
Click here to get in touch about fencing subsidies.
Find out more about the Project's monitoring programmes.
Shown here, Marlborough District Council undertakes vertebrate sampling for mitigation effectiveness monitoring.
