Repairing the whenua through KMR and landowner partnership and support

Without the backing and guidance of Kaipara Moana Remediation, Hayley and Geoff Clayton may not have got back on their feet after their 135-hectare Kaipara Hills farm suffered immense slip damage in 2023 – just two years after they bought the property.

After receiving 185mm of rain in just five hours on Auckland Anniversary weekend in 2023, Geoff Clayton witnessed sink holes appearing before his eyes and slips coming down all around him as he was driving through his paddocks to get back to the safety of their farmhouse.

The sink holes were the pre-curser of the carnage Cyclone Gabrielle delivered when it hammered the land and created even more substantial slips barely a fortnight later.

“Post Cyclone Gabrielle, the Kaipara Moana Remediation team were hands down the ray of light we needed,” says a heartfelt Hayley Clayton.

Becoming a KMR ‘Navigator’ project, enabled them to implement an ecological restoration plan by excluding stock from rivers and streams, retiring some of the farm’s steepest land, and undertaking restoration planting to reduce sediment losses into Kaipara Moana.

In the years since, KMR has helped fund around 20 kilometres of fencing and the planting of 60,000 trees (a split of 53,000 natives and almost 7000 blackwoods) to help the fractured farmland gradually recover.

The blackwood and native mix has been critical in stabilising some of the most chronic slip areas on the property and, after three winters of growth, substantial canopy closure is now clearly occurring across large parts of the site.

“They seem to be really happy growing in crappy soil — they are flourishing,” explains Geoff.

Geoff chose a native-alternative exotic planting mix to achieve effective erosion control, while also exploring the wider co-benefits of a farm forestry approach. While alternative exotic (non-pine) plantings make up a relatively small proportion of KMR’s overall planting programme compared to natives, they remain an important afforestation option in the right locations and for the right outcomes.

The progress and hard work required to make that happen is not lost on Hayley and Geoff.

Looking around their farm, they say  seeing the trees taking over, the canopy cover spreading and the slips disappearing underneath is a relief.

And they are grateful the progress has happened under the guidance of KMR Field Adviser and The Forest Bridge Trust’s fencing and planting specialist Katie Forno.

“We couldn’t have done it without Katie. She has been incredible and KMR has been very fluid in its approach to working with landowners to tackle problems. They listen and they understand what is needed on the land. When you go through what we and other surround landowners did, it is reassuring to be thought of, guided and supported so strongly.”

The Clayton’s say they are immensely proud of what they have achieved in unison with KMR and The Forest Bridge Trust, with Comvita even playing part with the gifting of 2000 mānuka as part of the New Zealand company’s support for Cyclone-affected landowners.

The fact Hayley and Clayton already had a well-established relationship with KMR before the storms, has certainly helped in the restoration efforts in the years since.

The Claytons had paid for the planting of 5,000 natives in 2022, alongside 1,000 natives that same year which were funded by KMR through the Forest Bridge Trust. KMR also funded a substantial amount of fencing back in 2022.

Thanks to KMR’s 2023 winter Flood and Cyclone Recovery Fund, damaged planting and fencing was replaced, expanded or relocated (1.5km of fencing and raceways were destroyed in the storms), to help reduce risk from future adverse weather events, as the Clayton’s began working towards retiring around 80ha of their farmland.

That drive continues in 2026 with the couple estimating they have five more years of planting 10,000 trees a year to finish the mahi they started. At that point they will be left with 47 hectares of pasture and a farm capable of running 90 head of beef, while also healing itself as the trees take hold and help repair the whenua.

“Our hope is that the farm will always be open to KMR to be used as a showcase around what you can achieve against the odds and what you can do to benefit Kaipara Moana by retiring erodible hillsides and fencing off and planting riparian strips and wetlands to reduce sediment running off the land,” say Hayley and Geoff.

“It’s about working in partnership and nurturing the land back to make the farm as ecologically diverse as we can.”

Having grown up in the rural north-west Auckland township of Kaukapakapa, Geoff says he always had a leaning towards plants and natives.

“Despite the stress of the two big 2023 storms and the devastation to the farm, we love it here and enjoy the satisfaction of giving back to the land and the environment. The concept that we will be leaving our children with something that is doing good for the planet just feels right,” the couple say.