“We’re enough for nature, we just need to take action.”

“We want to take that opportunity to give back to the community that was hosting us, to bring back the land the way it used to be.”

“I think most farmers definitely are very environmentally conscious because at the end of the day, the stock are living on the land, so you want it to be healthy to get the best use out of your stock.”

“When people visit a farm, you don’t take them to the woolshed or paddock, you take them to the really unique, beautiful parts of the landscape like a river or forested hillside. Managing these areas is part of farm ownership.”

“Nature needs to be at the center of all of our lives. My vision is for people to value forests, to be connected to forests, and to gain the benefits that forests can provide.”

“A lot of our native bush is gone, so we should restore areas that aren’t productive on the farm and look after our special biodiversity, while farming on good farmland. These are iconic NZ species, so why wouldn’t we look after them?”

“We need to plant more forests so we can be good guardians of our planet and good ancestors for future generations.”

“From my perspective, New Zealand and world conservation in general need to try its best to retain what we have. If people can protect the pockets of vegetation they have, then to complement that restore and replant areas that aren’t currently bush, it will lead to quite a large area getting restored.”

“My inspiration is the water, whakapapa, and whānau, and leaving all in a better state than they were received in. I want to be a voice for living things.”

“We can’t just do one thing. We can’t just do advocacy, we can’t just do lobbying, we can’t just do regeneration, we have to do everything. It takes so many of us with different skill sets. From people who can bring in resources, those who can do work on the ground, to those who can measure and verify.”

There’s gonna be different solutions to deal with climate change in different regions. There might be similarities in some, but the way that regions operate are different and what’s important to them is different, and so how to go about finding solutions is different.”

“I’m a great believer that with half a dozen like-minded people, you can pretty much change the world.”

“Working together with Papatuanuku, treating her as a mother. I think the thing is to have that kind of sense of kinship”

“I think the exciting thing is that it’s really, you can see the change. So when I arrived, there was just a few people working in the environmental space and now there’s so many groups, you lose track of all the people working in that space.”

“Our forests go through all sorts of stuff, you know? So you gotta be flexible, you gotta be strong. And if something knocks you down, you just gotta persevere and keep going, keep growing.”