Carbon Farming Project, New Zealand
Protecting precious native forest and sequestering carbon at Puhi Peaks Station, Kaikoura.
The Project
Puhi Peaks Station in Kaikoura is the highest-altitude land in private ownership in New Zealand. It covers 1,618 hectares located in the spectacular Seaward Kaikoura Range. Over half of the property is protected in perpetuity, including 90 hectares of native forest registered with the Permanent Forest Sink Initiative (PFSI) and the largest Open Space Covenant (QEII) in New Zealand since 2005.
Rich in Biodiversity
The property has a wide variety of vegetation and flora and therefore displays distinctive biodiversity features through complex forestry ecosystems. The main ones include kanuka and manuka forests and shrubland, remnants of beech forest and totara lacebark tree land. These forests are full of native birds, including endemics species like bellbirds and bush robins, tomtit, fantails, keas and NZ falcons. The property is also
famous for its abundance of sea birds and shelters one of the only two remaining breeding colonies of Hutton’s shearwater.
Holistic approach to land management
On top of carbon farming and perpetual carbon sequestration, the property specialises in a diverse range of activities. While a portion of the lowland is used for pastoral farming, the owners focus on a high quality
ecotourism business and commercial hunting operations. These activities are developed alongside a thorough biodiversity control plan.
The owners emphasise the importance of a holistic approach to land management, by using their keen interest and knowledge in natural history to implement an exceptional commitment to the conservation of the local natural heritage.
The Impact
- Regeneration project permanently protecting indigenous forest
- 100 tCO2e removed annually from the atmosphere
- 16,600 tCO2e total stored.