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I'm making some hills this weekend for a new battlemat, specifically stepped hills that will be covered with sand and flock. I was wondering what is the best way to prevent the sand and flock from rubbing off from constant use. I've read that a mixture of white glue and water in a spray bottle will do the job, has anyone done this? How good were your results? I'm open to other ideas as well.

Well, unless you are running your tanks, and vehicles across the terrain you're making I wouldn't worry too much about sealing them. From my experience of building terrain like hills, I coated the foam twice, covered it in glue, added the sand and let it dry, then did it again with the glue then sand. I then painted them and added flock or static grass as needed. I think the only time I did any sealing has been on my resin and plastic building and ruins, then the sealant is a flat clear spray.
Again, heavy on the glue, then sand, let dry, then do it all again. I suggest doing a bunch of terrain like the bit you have in mind then do some hills too, it's going to be messy so lay out the news papers. A fan helps the drying process. Oh, the base coat of paint should be applied thickly, then dry-brush the highlights in after, then flock and static grass at the end.
This is just the method I use, of which I gained the experience from my pal Andy who is great at it. We would set up what appeared to be a manufacturing process, by the time something was done drying we had more to coat and sand, then when we got done with the sanding there was terrain to paint. I'm long winded I'm sure you get the point.

Have a good time of it!

Watery PVA works just fine as a sealant. When I'm applying grit to terrain/basing, I generally apply it over a layer of neat PVA (after lightly sanding the surface, if using XPS insulation foam - glue tends to bead up on the smooth face, otherwise). Once that dries, I lightly brush over the surface with a chip brush to knock off any loose grains, then slather on a mix of water, PVA, and a bit of paint in my intended base color. This locks everything down, while also getting color into all of those recesses that can be difficult to reach with spray. If you've got coarse texture, a touch of flow improver in the mix will help it settle down into areas that might otherwise be shielded by trapped air pockets.

If I ever scale up to doing a full table with large terrain pieces, various flocks, clump foliage, etc. then I'll likely follow this up with a final spritz or two of highly dilute PVA from a spray bottle, exactly as you've read. Haven't tried it, yet, but the videos I've seen detailing the process show promising results.

PVA+water in spray, or use old brush. And after painting i spray finished terrain with matt varnish (good security for static grass, bush, fine details)

Do you paint over the sand? Usually painting the sand seals it for me. As with the flock, I just let it be. Sure, it might get removed after a really long time, but I can always reapply it again.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I actually found some Woodland Scenics cement and a spray bottle while digging around my closet and it looks like I can use it for the same purpose. Will give it a go.

If you use white foam for the hills, wear and tear looks like limestone being exposed, which isn't a bad aesthetic all on it's own. Pinkboard obviously doesn't wear quite as well. A spray on wax can also be given some consideration if you don't want to risk glossing it up too much.

I use glue and sand, multiple layers.
Then sealed with a sand, glue, water and a drop of dishwashing liquid slurry.

After this, it's varnished with a matt polyurethane rattlecan varnish.

Feels like solid stone afterwards. Hills are all based, too and the edges bogged solidly. They stay on the table and are fairly resistant to damage.