Geoff’s adult life started with a civil service job and the orthodox O.E. of a young kiwi who, upon returning to NZ, was faced with the question: “What to do with my life?” Conservation issues pushed him into a job and an all-consuming hobby which have shaped every day since then. The job, growing native plants, quickly morphed into a full-time nursery business, which in time introduced many plants unknown to the New Zealand public at the time.
The hobby kicked in and it became addictive. Geoff founded the Native Forest Restoration Trust and has spent the past 36 years amassing 7,000 hectares of land as nature reserves around the country. It gives him ongoing pleasure seeing nature take control and proceed to reintroduce all those species that once flourished in abundance. It has been a life full of satisfaction and gives him hope for the future. Thanks to Geoff’s extensive knowledge on growing native plants, donating materials, time, and expertise, Matuku Link’s nursery quickly became the engine of the project, growing up to 5000 eco-sourced plants and trees per year to revegetate the old paddocks and reinstate them as the wetland ecosystems they should be.
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