The Brief

In 2021, Riverside began working with the Hurunui District Landcare Group on a government-funded catchment restoration initiative within the Hurunui River catchment.

The two-year programme aimed to enhance biodiversity and waterway health through large-scale native planting across multiple privately owned farms.

Riverside’s Role

The project required coordination across numerous landowners, each with different site conditions, priorities, and planting environments.

Riverside was responsible for:

• Contract growing native species to agreed specifications

• Advising on appropriate species selection for varied land types

• Coordinating staged delivery across three planting seasons

• Supporting planning around pre-spraying, planting, and plant protection

Close communication and flexibility were essential to ensure delivery remained on time and within budget.

Scale & Delivery

Over three seasons, 80,000 native plants were delivered and distributed across multiple properties within the catchment.

Plant production and delivery were carefully timed to align with site preparation, contractor availability, and seasonal planting windows.

Outcome

The project strengthened biodiversity within the Hurunui River catchment while demonstrating the value of coordinated, large-scale native planting across working farmland.

Client Feedback

“We chose Riverside due to their scale, plant knowledge, ability to deliver on-time, and to-budget. Andrew and Ferg have been very helpful the entire way along, from planning to delivery; with excellent plant species knowledge and planting advice. Delivery of plants has been to spec and on-time. Very easy and open communication, which is very important to us. Knowledgeable staff and flexibility to make our project work within our constraints.”
— Josh Brown, Hurunui Land Care Group