Mahi mō te taiao Jobs for Nature
The $1.2 billion Jobs for Nature initiative 2020 saw the introduction of a New Zealand government project as part of the COVID-19 economic recovery. In addition to delivering long-lasting environmental rehabilitation, it generated thousands of nature-based jobs nationwide.
Jobs for Nature projects in the Horizons Region
Central government’s $1.2 billion Mahi mō te Taiao – Jobs for Nature package was introduced in 2020 in response to COVID-19 to help support national economic recovery efforts. The package was available to help fund shovel-ready projects with a focus on environmental enhancement.
Horizons received $18.4 million in funding for three projects, focusing on protecting and enhancing water quality and biodiversity, and improving native fish populations in our region’s waterways. The total value of these projects was $27 million, with the balance made up by Horizons and project partners. These projects helped progress the objectives of national freshwater management regulatory reforms, and provided an opportunity to strengthen our partnerships with iwi, landowners, and community groups.
These work programmes created a range of short and long-term jobs within the region, aimed at improving water quality through a range of environmental work. The three projects below were based on work programmes Horizons already had underway to accelerate achieving environmental outcomes.
All three of our Jobs for Nature projects were originally given four years to complete. In 2024, Horizons was granted an extension by Ministry for the Environment to allow for unspent funding to be utilised. This also meant we were able to extend the targets for these work programmes, achieving more than their original targets. The extension was from June 2024 until June 2025, with two of the three projects concluding in June 2025. The Horowhenua FMU project was extended until June 2026.
Read on for more information about each of the projects we undertook.
Riparian Planting and Stream Fencing
Horizons was granted $4.6 million through central government’s Jobs for Nature programme in 2020. This built on our existing stream fencing and planting programme, enabling us to do more work and accelerate water quality improvements. Before Jobs for Nature, we targeted about 79km of stream fencing and 63,333 riparian plants each year. Jobs for Nature enabled us to significantly increase this to 455km of stream fencing and 655,000 riparian plants in just five years. This work improved habitats for aquatic life, decreased erosion, reduced nutrient and E.coli concentrations, supported stock exclusion from waterways. It also enabled the employment of 125 people across the region to help support social and economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fish Passage Remediation
Many of the region's waterways have lower native fish diversity and numbers than predictive models estimate. One of the key factors limiting native fish population distribution is barriers to their migration. Our Enhancing Native Fish Populations project aimed to improve native fish population's ability to migrate by identifying and remediating physical barriers. Between 2020 and 2025, $2.54 million was granted through the Jobs for Nature fund to go towards the investigation of in-stream structures, remediations of barriers, and fish surveys. During this programme, 192 remediations were completed; of those remediations, 30 were undertaken on private property. The remaining works were completed in partnership with city and district councils and the Crown.
Find out more Fish passage projects
Horowhenua Freshwater Management Unit water quality interventions
Punahau Lake Horowhenua is a taonga for local iwi/hapū and has a degraded state below many national bottom lines for water quality. It has also shown decline in some water quality parameters since the turn of this century. Scientific modelling by NIWA predicted the existing investments, such as a major sediment trap and lake weed harvesting will provide significant water quality benefits. However, more needed to be done to address water quality in the lake, particularly to manage nutrient inputs. The Arawhata sub-catchment of the lake has high nitrogen concentrations and is the most significant surface water source of nutrient and sediment to the lake. To address this issue, a wetland complex, along with a linked programme of catchment works including sediment traps, wetlands and drainage system upgrades, was proposed as a major water quality intervention for the lake. In March 2026, work broke ground to begin wetland construction.