Planting for the Long Haul

For more than three decades, Steve Treseder has been working to environmentally enhance a sheep and beef property in the lower Mangamahaki sub-catchment at Oueroa. 

Managing the 247ha Nisbett Taumata Estate since 1988, Steve began planting the following year and has never stopped. Today, he estimates that around 8,000 trees and shrubs now flourish across the property, creating a patchwork of shelterbelts, stabilised slopes, and biodiversity pockets.

“It wasn’t a grand plan,” Steve says. “You just keep chipping away, and over time you can really see how far things have come. It has been an incredibly rewarding process.”

What started with poplars and willows for erosion control has grown into a diverse planting programme. Early on, he planted about 100 trees each year. That number gradually climbed to 200 and then 300 annually, depending on supply and survival rates. Over time he has planted natives around seven dams, a woodlot of mixed species, and countless shelterbelts for stock. He has even tucked in amenity trees around the property chosen for their seasonal colour.

Initially guided by advice from The Conservation Company with a lot of help and support from the owners, Steve has made sure to mix species and avoid monocultures to enhance biodiversity, improve soil health and increase resilience to pests and diseases.

Steve’s long-term dedication has not gone unnoticed. In 2022 he was named Farm Forester of the Year and he was also a finalist in the Ballance Farm Environment Awards.

There has been very little external funding over the years with only modest help along the way from Trees That Count and Hawke’s Bay Regional Council subsidies for poplars and willows. Steve has also shown plenty of resourcefulness, fashioning his own weedmats from defective apple trays discarded by packhouses.  

His philosophy on planting goes beyond aesthetics and erosion control. He worries about the impacts of blanket pine forestry, arguing that New Zealand could achieve carbon goals through smarter use of poplars and willows instead. “It's surprising how many farmers don’t know that they can double their income per hectare claiming the credit from planting other species.”

The satisfaction, though, lies in the transformation of the landscape. Steve, along with some of the owners, has even built a small hut beside one dam, using timber milled from trees he planted himself – macrocarpa for the framing and poplar for the tongue-and-groove lining. Surrounded by natives, it’s a spot where he and the farm owners can pause to enjoy the results of years of quiet effort.

Alongside his farm work, Steve also runs Minibales Hawke’s Bay, producing handy mini bales of baleage as an alternative to the standard big bales – a business that, like his planting, grew out of practical innovation.

“Planting is a real buzz,” Steve says simply – and this transformed landscape is living proof.