Halter is a rapidly growing New Zealand company providing innovative solutions to farmers, helping them improve productivity of pastures, protect waterways and improve the welfare of stock.  The company provides solar powered collars for cows that enable farmers to virtually fence their pastures, monitor the movements and health of stock and move stock using an app.  Satellite imagery also enables farmers to optimize grazing areas to ensure pasture health.

Today we were very happy to once again welcome a team from Halter’s production department for a volunteer day at CUE Haven. The team included Drew M, Drew P, Dugan, Eleanor, Issac, Josh, Julia, Marianna, Nic, Sam and William.

The Halter team has grown, and several of the team were new to CUE Haven, so over morning tea Mahrukh gave a quick history of the restoration project, current activities and future plans.

Thomas then gave a safety briefing and description of the work planned for the day.

The plan for the day was to continue to work on some improvements to an old section of walking track and also to do some remediation and preparation for weather events which have caused significant issues over the past few years.

We broke into three teams and went to work.

One team worked on installing side boards on a section of the Tirairaka track.  The first step was to study the area and determine the best way to install the boards.  The track curves sharply at that point, so lots of measuring was necessary to determine the board lengths.  Once they determined the timber needs, they went to the shed to get the boards.

Once the timber was on site, they did detailed measurements to determine the best placement of the boards.

In some areas, digging was required to create a channel for the boards to sit in.

Each individual board was cut to size to ensure the best fit.

The boards were then installed by being nailed and pegged in position.

The team made major improvements to this section of the track which will make it easier to maintain in future. Thanks guys!!

Another team tackled a big engineering challenge.  A long set of steps connects the Tirairaka and Tui tracks and over the years, the ground has settled and the steps have moved out of alignment.  The task was to realign the steps and install side boards to improve the stability of the structure.

The first step was to install a string line to determine the correct alignment of the steps.

The team then took some time to study the situation and come up with solutions.  The fact that trees had also grown up along the edges of some of the steps complicated matters.

They identified the steps which needed to be relocated and dug them out for repositioning.

While the steps were repositioned, two team members went to the shed to collect timber for the side boards.

Once on site, the boards were cut to size and nailed in place.

Once one side was finished, they double checked the alignment and installed the boards on the other side.

The section the team managed to complete is a significant improvement and sets a high standard for future groups who will finish off the steps.

Great job, team!

The third team tackled a very messy challenge.  The boardwalk in the wetlands crosses the stream at two points and when the boardwalk was built in 2014, we constructed bridges over both those sections which enabled comfortable access over the stream and into the wetlands. After the heavy rain events we’ve had since 2023, silt coming down from the farms upstream clogged the area under the main bridge and as a result, the stream found a new course along the side of the boardwalk.  Aside from impacting the wetlands further downstream this also has the effect of undermining the boardwalk as the stream flows along the support structure.

Last year, a team did remediation work to raise the bridge so that water could flow more freely underneath it and there would be less chance of silt blocking the stream.

At that time, the team also dug out underneath the bridge and dug a channel to direct the water flow toward the downstream ponds.

The cleared channel and elevated boardwalk worked perfectly until late January 2026 when another heavy rainstorm caused another slip which destroyed a section of the Riroriro track and brought down a massive amount of silt. This once again blocked the stream flow in the wetlands and sent the water along the side of the boardwalk.

We requested this team to undertake the challenge of clearing out the blockage under the bridge and digging a new channel to direct future water flows downstream.

The first step was to clear out impacted silt and vegetation from underneath the bridge.

For better access to the space under the bridge, they removed some of the top boards.

The next step was to restore and improve the channel which would lead water away from the boardwalk and into the wetland ponds.  It was a messy job involving digging through thick vegetation.

There was a bit of excitement when they came across a nursery web spider.

These spiders are nonaggressive but tick all the boxes for scary spiders—long legs, big jaws and fast moving.  They live in wetlands and build their webs in trees.  The webs are only used to lay eggs and raise babies which is why they are called nursery web spiders.

The team managed to dig a long and deep channel which quickly started draining properly.

The last step was replacing the top bridge planks.

The team felt that the water wasn’t moving as fast as it should and found a buried log was blocking part of the channel.  The undertook the messy job of digging it out.

The team then went out to inspect a number of drains along the roads and cleared them out to ensure they are free flowing in the event of heavy rains.

At the end of the day, the team went back to see how the wetlands stream was flowing and were delighted to see their hard work had paid off and the water was now clear and flowing easily.

A big thank you to the team for taking on the messy and challenging task.

Needless to say, it took them a while to clean up before lunch!

All the three teams accomplished an amazing amount of work and made a HUGE contribution. 

Our many thanks to Drew for organising the team’s visit today and continued support. Drew we really value and appreciate your friendship, and look forward to your ongoing involvement with CUE Haven.

And a MASSIVE THANK YOU to everyone for all your hard work and efforts.  It was great chatting with you all and spending time with you and we also very much enjoyed working with you.  Thanks for your much valued contribution to CUE Haven.

We look forward to having you all out to CUE Haven soon to explore more of your community reserve with your family and friends. And back again with more of your colleagues for another productive and fun volunteer day!

THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!