Skip to content

You are using an outdated browser

Internet Explorer is not supported by this site and Microsfot has stopped releasing updates, therefore you may encounter issues whilst visiting this site and we strongly recommend that you upgrade your browser for modern web functionality, a better user experience and improved security.

Upgrade my browser

Meet the kiwi who’s spent over 30 years reforesting a corner of New Zealand

3 min read

Good Stuff
Source: YouTube/HappenFilms

Biologist Dr Hugh Wilson has been reforesting the Hinewai Reserve on New Zealand’s South Island since 1987 and is now the subject of a documentary ‘Fools and Dreamers’.

Man Spends 30 Years Turning Degraded Land into Massive Forest

When, in 1987, botanist Dr Hugh Wilson let the local community on New Zealand’s Banks Peninsula know of his plans to allow the introduced ‘weed’ gorse to grow as a nurse canopy to regenerate farmland into native forest, people were not only skeptical but outright angry – the plan was the sort to be expected only of “fools and dreamers”.

Now considered a hero locally and across the country, Dr Wilson oversees 1500 hectares resplendent in native forest, where birds and other wildlife are abundant and 47 known waterfalls are in permanent flow. He has proven without doubt that nature knows best – and that he is no fool. Fools & Dreamers: Regenerating a Native Forest is a free 30-minute documentary from HappenFilms about Hinewai Nature Reserve (below)

Sun-loving gorse provides a protective nurse-canopy for young native trees to get a good start in life. Once the native trees push through the gorse and create shade, the gorse dies off.
Gorse (yellow) being overtaken by native bush. Hinewai Reserve, Banks Peninsula, Canterbury, New Zealand. Sun-loving gorse provides a protective nurse-canopy for young native trees to get a good start in life. Once the native trees push through the gorse and create shade, the gorse dies off. Source: Michal Klajban/WikimediaCommons
Hinewai Reserve occupies 1250 hectares in the south-eastern corner of Banks Peninsula on the South Island’s east coast. The reserve lies east of the town of Akaroa.
Hinewai is an ecological restoration project on Banks Peninsula, privately owned and managed by the Maurice White Native Forest Trust, but freely open the public on foot. Hinewai Reserve occupies 1250 hectares in the south-eastern corner of Banks Peninsula on the South Island’s east coast. The reserve lies east of the town of Akaroa. Source: hinewai.org.nz
Since then the trust has greatly enlarged the reserve through the purchase of Ōtānerito Station in 1991 and through several subsequent additions. Since 2016 the trust has also looked after the adjacent 192 hectare Purple Peak Curry Reserve, after its purchase in that year by the New Zealand Native Forest Restoration Trust.
Initially 109 hectares were purchased by the Maurice White Native Forest Trust in 1987. Since then the trust has greatly enlarged the reserve through the purchase of Ōtānerito Station in 1991 and through several subsequent additions. Since 2016 the trust has also looked after the adjacent 192 hectare Purple Peak Curry Reserve, after its purchase in that year by the New Zealand Native Forest Restoration Trust. Source: hinewai.org.nz
It’s operated under a management strategy of minimal interference — that is, they allow natural succession to run its course towards a vegetation cover (nearly all forest) similar to that prevailing before the forest clearance by human settlers, first partly by Polynesian settlers from about 700 years ago, second and nearly completely by European settlers from around 1850 onwards.
The primary aim is to foster the natural regeneration of native vegetation and wildlife. It’s operated under a management strategy of minimal interference — that is, they allow natural succession to run its course towards a vegetation cover (nearly all forest) similar to that prevailing before the forest clearance by human settlers, first partly by Polynesian settlers from about 700 years ago, second and nearly completely by European settlers from around 1850 onwards. Source: hinewai.org.nz
Hugh and his colleagues removed alien elements that seriously impede the re-establishment of native flora and fauna — that is a few highly invasive and competitive exotic trees and vines and a few seriously deleterious animals, provided that their removal is practical. Otherwise they leave things alone. For example, exotic gorse is a hated weed of pastoral farming but is tolerated on Hinewai because it serves as a highly effective temporary nurse canopy for native regeneration.
Dark green native brush now covers the promontory. Hugh and his colleagues removed alien elements that seriously impede the re-establishment of native flora and fauna — that is a few highly invasive and competitive exotic trees and vines and a few seriously deleterious animals, provided that their removal is practical. Otherwise they leave things alone. For example, exotic gorse is a hated weed of pastoral farming but is tolerated on Hinewai because it serves as a highly effective temporary nurse canopy for native regeneration. Source: hinewai.org.nz
This enables wildlife and insects to move freely through the environment.
Unbroken natural corridors now run from peak to shore, This enables wildlife and insects to move freely through the environment. Source: Facebook/HinewaiReserve
He doesn’t hate technology, he just prefers not to use it when avoidable.
Dr Wilson travels everywhere by foot or on a bike. He doesn’t hate technology, he just prefers not to use it when avoidable. Source: Facebook/HinewaiReserve
Full Documentary: Man Spends 30 Years Turning Degraded Land into Massive Forest (Fools & Dreamers) The incredible story of how degraded gorse-infested farmland has been regenerated back into beautiful New Zealand native forest over the course of 30 years.. Source: YouTube/HappenFilms
Make an Impact

HOW TO GET A JOB IN CONSERVATION

So you want to get a job in conservation? Great! With wildlife in crisis all around the world and numbers of threatened species at an all-time high, the natural world needs your help. So how do you give yourself the best chance of success? Conservation Careers asked 146 professional conservationists from 50 countries to provide their careers advice. With a combined experience of 1,734 years in the sector, here’s what they had to say…