Plant foliage absorbs rainfall energy and prevents soil particle detachment by raindrop impact. Root systems physically bind or restrain soil particles while above-ground portions filter sediment out of runoff. Stems and foliage increase surface roughness and slow velocity of runoff.

An optimum slope surface objective should provide a dense and spatially uniform vegetative cover, which is why grasses, legumes and herbaceous species are usually used. Water has been implicated as either the primary or a major controlling factor in almost all documented slope failures.

Vegetation plays an important role in managing and regulating the amount of water available to a soil and is thus critical to slope stability. Vegetation can have an important role in enhancing the geotechnical stability of a slope.

Our willow post method stabilises embankments by "pinning" the slip circle to physically restrain the slope and also by modifying the hydrology of the bank, interception rainfall and removing water from within the bank through evapotranspiration.

Salix can advise on all aspects of geotechical stabilisation using vegetative and geotextile approaches.