Western Bay of Plenty and Tauranga councils looking after 3455ha, or 2200 Eden Park rugby fields, of lawn

Contractors mowing grass in Te Puke. Photo / Downer

About 3455 hectares - the equivalent of 2200 Eden Park rugby fields.

That is how much lawn council contractors are responsible for mowing in the Western Bay of Plenty and Tauranga. But as the spring weather brings bursts of rain and sunshine to the region, the grass is growing as fast as they can cut them down.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council has a little more than 220 reserves across about 3000 hectares to maintain while Tauranga City Council looks after 120 hectares of sports fields, 135 hectares of reserves in Mount Maunganui and Pāpāmoa, plus about 200 hectares of reserves in the city centre. Together, the councils look after 3455.2 hectares of reserves and sportsfields.

Peter Watson, a reserves manager at Western Bay of Plenty District Council, said they mowed based on grass length as it allowed contractors to mow as often as needed to account for strong growth times like spring.

“With the good growing conditions, it can be difficult to get all our reserves mown to the right height at the same time.”

Watson said grass length varied from one reserve to the next based on different categories which defined how long it could grow before it needed to be mown. They measured grass length using a rising disc method that was developed by the New Zealand Sports Turf Institute in the 1990s.

Watson said the mowing for each reserve was set in a management plan. These were reviewed on a nine-year cycle with community input. He encourages anyone with a query about the grass at their local park to get in touch.

Contractors mowing grass in Te Puke. Photo / Downer

Watson said the team had just over 220 reserves to maintain so it prioritised commonly-used areas. He said looking after the grassy reserves were their privilege.

“Grassy reserves are really important to the wellbeing of our communities in the Western Bay.

“These reserves are used for all sorts of recreation, and they help provide a place for our people to get outdoors safely, connect with each other and stay active,” Watson said.

Warren Aitken, a manager of operations at Tauranga City Council, said spring was a time of high growth and the teams worked long days and even on weekends.

Aitken said grass height was kept quite low in the sports fields, slightly higher in the neighbourhood reserves, and much higher on steep banks such as on road embankments.

“Our reserves are audited monthly, on a random basis, where we measure the grass height and score the quality of the mowing,” Aitken said.