Soil conservation planting
Trees can help reduce erosion, keeping valuable soil on your land and preventing sediment getting into waterways. This maintains the land's health and productivity and improves local water quality.
Why soil conservation planting is important
The benefits of planting for soil conservation include:
- reduced erosion and sediment loss
- maintaining healthy and productive soil
- improved water quality
- reduced damage to infrastructure from mass movement of land, soil deposition and gradual erosion of tracks and roads
- reduced flood flows and streambank erosion.
How trees conserve soil
Trees conserve soil by:
- binding soils with their roots to improve land stability
- creating a canopy to intercept rain and allow it to reach the soil more slowly
- providing shade and additional organic matter so soils are more likely to retain moisture and reduce flood flows.
Different ways you can plant for soil conservation
Planting for soil conservation can include:
- retiring land from grazing and letting it revert to native vegetation – either naturally or with planting
- widely spaced planting of trees across paddocks (particularly poplars and willows)
- riparian planting
- planting trees for harvest, where appropriate.
Identify the reasons why you are going to treat the land for soil loss. For example, are you doing riparian planting or planting on steep slopes? What are the risks and what do you want to achieve?
Your regional council can provide you with advice on how to best control erosion on your property. Many can also provide funding support for treating erosion prone land.
For more information on riparian and other waterway planting, see our waterway planting pages.
Trees on farms
Planting trees on farms can provide other benefits like shade, shelter and fodder for stock.
Take a whole farm approach to see which parts of your land are the most vulnerable and least productive for livestock. Prioritise where you need to plant first and include this information in your farm planner.
Learn about how trees can help with soil conservation on farms from farm foresters who have seen the benefits first hand.
Funding and planting advice
Case studies
The Hill Country Erosion Programme has some examples of how the programme is helping landowners tackle erosion and manage sediment loss.