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The difference can be striking. Many stations farmed under a pastoral lease are tended to by families who have a long and deep connection with the land and fully appreciate the importance of operating in a sustainable and environmentally conscious way. They take great pride in seeing their merino sheep flourish on land where weeds and pests are kept at bay. Innovation has come a long way and the leaseholders and farm managers I’ve spoken with have embraced new tools and technologies to gain efficiency and farm in a way that benefits conservation. It’s clear when visiting these properties that sustainable practices are commonplace and are something leaseholders are in fact proud of. These stations are truly stunning and showcase the very best of the New Zealand High Country.
LUZ ZUNIGA/Stuff It’s going to be so important for the region, given there’s virtually no native forest from the Richmond Ranges to the Tākaka Hill. It’s an incredibly generous donation to the community and the nation.
EDITORIAL: Words like “iconic” are thrown around far too readily, but if that word applies anywhere in New Zealand, it applies to the high country of the South Island. Who watches those iconic landscapes to make sure they stay that way? That is the job of Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) but some may wonder about its performance. A recent release of LINZ data shows there have been 125 complaints about unpermitted activities or breaches in the high country over the past 10 years. Yet there has not been a single prosecution. Not even one.
This improvement is the result of active management on the part of leaseholders: plant and animal pest control initiatives, planting programmes, soil conservation initiatives. The idea that pastoral farming and good environmental outcomes are mutually exclusive is simply wrong. Ms Snoyink alleges that Land Information New Zealand (Linz) “has issued hundreds of ‘discretionary’ consents for destruction and clearance of native ecosystems”, and that, in granting these, the Commissioner of Crown Lands “has no obligation to protect natural values”. That is fundamentally wrong. The current legislation specifically requires the commissioner to consider “the desirability of protecting the inherent values of the land concerned … and in particular the inherent values of indigenous plants and animals, and natural ecosystems and landscapes” when considering whether to allow a leaseholder to plant a tree, create a track, or carry out “any other activity affecting, or invo
STUFF
Brett Mills bought a section near Queenstown, sight unseen, because he believed it was the site of his first kiss. Twenty years on, he still isn t able to access it.
It was late at night, there were only a few hours to submit a tender for a slice of the New Zealand high country, and Brett Mills was wafting in a cloud of nostalgia. As a child, the Queenstown local had probably walked through the 0.5 hectare section – about half the size of a rugby field – while traversing the Moonlight track from Arthurs Point with his father to visit old gold miners.