Ollie Langridge is quietly fighting the battle against climate change and biodiversity loss on his extensive property on a hillside in the Motueka Valley.
Ollie doesn’t do this alone though. For much of the year, Ollie and his wife Nataliya (and their two children) have visitors – WWOOFers – people who come to live and learn on an organic farm. There have been around 240 WWOOFers stay over the last two years, with up to 30 at one time. Most come between November and March, and help with weeding, pest control, and other manual restoration jobs in return for accommodation and being shown around the local area by Ollie. Ollie says:
“People want to help with environmental projects while they travel, so we have no trouble finding helpers.”
Since moving to the property on West Bank Road, Ollie and his band of helpers, along with friends and contractors, have planted around 10,000 trees, cleared wilding pines, established an extensive trap network, built a geodome, meditation platform and ampitheatre.
Ollie wants to leave his property better than it is now for his children, and bring back the wildlife. This gives him meaning and makes him feel like he is taking action. Ollie has undertaken an exhaustive audit of all of the flora and fauna on the property, including natives as well as pests.
Ollie grows all of his own trees in his nursery, sources seed, and does all of his own trapping with an extensive network of traps.
Nine hectares of the property has recently been put into a QEII covenant. This provides legal protection for the area of original native forest on the land so that it can’t be rmoeved or damaged. There is a 20 minute walk through the covenant, which has creeks, wetlands, dry hillside planting, and a meditation platform.
Ollie is a member of the Biodiversity and Restoration Thematic Group of the Motueka Catchment Collective.
“I felt a bit daunted when I was first asked to join the group given all the expertise and experience of the other members. But I’m really enjoying being a part of it and I like seeing how my project connects to the efforts of others across the catchment.”
Ollie’s property provided an exemplar site for over 50 community members to learn about selecting the right plants for the right types of conditions. This was at a very successful community event run by the Motueka Catchment Collective and NZ Landcare Trust on 18 February.
