Ashburton River Fairway Vegetation Management for Flood Risk Reduction

This procurement involves the chipping or mulching of live woody vegetation from the fairway of the south branch of the Ashburton River for an approx. 6km stretch between Blowing Point Bridge and Stour River confluence.

The woody vegetation in this reach causes several adverse effects including heightening the flood risk to adjacent land, reducing natural braid character, accelerating native biodiversity loss and inhibiting recreational access. This project is designed to improve fairway capacity and restore natural river character.

We are inviting a proposal to mulch or chip standing live woody vegetation from ~27.5 Ha of fairway while minimising environmental disturbance and the possibility to regrowth from cut material. It is important to us that we work co-operatively with adjacent landowners.

Access to the site may require using private bridges, and we would require the contractor to seek permission and to adhere to any requests that the landowner makes regarding use of their bridges. Should adjacent landowners request to be notified when works are taking place in the river, we would also require the contractor to adhere to those requests. Our target date for completion of this work is 30 July 2023.