Business Rural Winter 2021

| 37 Forestry focus has stations carbon positive Russell Fredric RURAL PEOPLE » Balmoral & Mount Hay Stations T he balance between farming commercially, diversification and diligent environmental management is not a difficult choice for Bal- moral and Mount Hay station’s run-holders. Andrew and Karen Simpson have held a Crown pastoral lease on their Tekapo home farm, Balmoral Station, for nearly five decades, with the acquisition of Mt Hay completing the picture more recently. The stations lie in the heart of Mackenzie Basin, with its sweeping, big-sky vistas, golden tussock tundra, dramatic mountain backdrops and turquoise Lake Tekapo. Originally 10,000 hectares comprising just five massive paddocks, Balmoral Station has been the backbone of the Merino farming business since 1975. “There was no buildings, we had a wee crutch- ing shed, it was just a bare block of land really,” Andrew says. The lease was altered in 2000 when the Simp- son’s swapped 2700ha of land for 2700ha of of Mt John Station with New Zealand Defence Force which acquired the land for a training area. In recent decades, increasing diversification into forestry and the purchase of 10,600ha Mount Hay Station have also featured on the family’s land- scape. Andrew’s roots in the region go deep; he was born and raised on Mt Hay Station, which lies on the eastern side of Lake Tekapo. He bought originally Balmoral Station with his brother Rex and managed that and Mt Hay in partnership until 1980. Andrew and Karen have three adult children, Ben, Amanda and Sam; with Andrew now semi-retired, Sam is managing Balmoral. As a means of underpinning a sustainable future for the business through carbon sequestration, forestry plantings – initially Douglas Fir, which now account for about 50% of plantings, were under- taken in 1997. The forestry block now extends more than 500 hectares between Tekapo and Pukaki, with new trees added every year. A Scion trial site was established in 1994 and during the past two decades hybridised radiata species have been developed to prevent the spread of wilding trees. The hybrids, planted in the last five years, have adapted extremely well to the challeng- ing environment. “It’s the biggest dry-land forestry trial in New Zealand. It is to find out what species of tree will grow in the high country and also what spacing you grow them at.” The ongoing research has included fertiliser tri- als, invertebrate assessment, long-term forestry soil analysis, soil enhancement trails, water yield and bird counts. “I’ve always been an avid fan of forestry and gaining as much knowledge as you can.” “With the carbon created from them we are se- questering about 10,000 tonnes of carbon per year. Once we get it all fully planted we will be seques- tering something like 25,000 tonnes per year. “We are emitting off the farm 2,500 tonnes so at the moment we are carbon positive by four-fold.” Carbon credits can be traded or banked indefi- nitely. Despite his penchant for trees, Andrew does not believe it is a case of one-size-fits-all and is opposed to prime farm land being converted into forestry. As custodians of a magnificent and pristine part of New Zealand the Simpson’s are very proactive in the environmental space. They have just completed a whole-farm manage- ment plan, in conjunction with Professor David Norton from the University of Canterbury’s School of Forestry. “We’ve identified a lot of those areas that have (environmental) significance and we’ve imple- mented management structures to enhance or maintain the biodiversity that we currently have on our property.” Balmoral and Mount Hay Stations lie in the heart of the Mackenzie Basin. A focus on forestry plantings for carbon sequestration will see the family business “sequestering something like 25,000 tonnes per year, making it carbon positive by four fold,” says runholder Andrew Simpson. PROUD TO BE PROVIDING IRRIGATION SERVICES TO BALMORAL STATION Peter McPherson, Chris Heath, Peter Cockburn, Wayne Morgan, SandraWiggins & Supporting Sta Proud to support Balmoral Station monk fencing mackenzie basin - rural fencing Email monkfencing@gmail.com Proud to be associated with Balmoral Station Phone Nathan 021 203 1076