With members of the new South Island High Country Advisory Group announced in August, Federated Farmers is hopeful of some constructive debate going forward on issues such as tenure review.
Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) named the following as the group’s members: Colin Drummond (Federated Farmers), Edward Ellison (Ngai Tahu), Jan Finlayson (Federated Mountain Clubs), James Guild (QE II National Trust and Molesworth Steering Committee), Mike Harding (Ministry for the Environment Biodiversity Collaborative Group), Geoff Holgate (Walking Access Commission), Di Lucas (rural landscape planner and past chair of the Nature Heritage Fund), Jen Miller (Forest & Bird and MfE Biodiversity Collaborative Group), Jonathan Wallis (High Country Accord) and Madeleine Wright (Environmental Defence Society).
“It’s certainly an interesting cross-section of people,” says Simon Williamson who chairs Federated Farmers’ High Country and is the North Otago provincial president. He sees the group as a potentially constructive influence on high country issues.
“How constructive it turns out to be will depend on what is outlined for the group to do and how it is structured.”
The merino farmer, who owns Glenbrook Station, has always spoken plainly when it comes to his own perspective on the tenure review system.
He’s frustrated that the voice of the farmer sometimes seems to bear little weight and that the history behind tenure review is not well understood.
“There was always going to be a trade-off involved in gaining public conservation land but now there’s all this angst about wanting to protect everything and saying no to development.”
LINZ Chief Executive Andrew Crisp is himself optimistic the advisory group will open up a new way of working in the high country.
The group will meet for the first time in September. Controlling wilding pines is another ongoing issue for New Zealand’s high country.
In May 2016, the government pledged $16 million over four years for the first phase of a national control programme, including conservation land and farmland in the Mackenzie and North Otago.
In the programme’s first year (2016 to 2017) the spread of wilding conifers was controlled and prevented across 1.2 million hectares, with a further 371,000 hectares added to the programme in 2017 to 2018.
“The Mackenzie Basin Wilding Trees Charitable Trust has done a really good job and killed a lot of trees,” Simon observes.
“The trouble is on that high ground, the DOC conservation land, how do you maintain that when, in fact, the best tool to keep trees down is grazing?” As well as holding his roles with Federated Farmers, Simon chairs the board for the Twizel Medical Centre.
“It has been interesting to discover that the health industry is not very healthy … but for an isolated community like Twizel, it is very important to have decent health services and healthcare.”
Simon and his wife Kirsty also own and operate the SH8 Merino wool company, and have the nationwide distribution of Point6 premium merino socks.
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