The usual method for protecting land under Crown pastoral lease is tenure review, which turns it over to the public conservation estate under the management of the Department of Conservation.
University of Otago botanist and veteran environmental campaigner Prof Sir Alan Mark says Mutt Lange’s commitment to destock the covenanted areas, spend large amounts of money on wilding tree control and open up the land to the public is laudable.
But he worries that after Mr Lange dies, that legacy could languish under a new owner with less commitment and fewer resources.
He wonders what provision Mr Lange intends to make to ensure the land continues to receive the same high level of care into the future.
QEII National Trust chairman James Guild says it is not the trust’s role to probe the estate planning of its partner landowners.
"We get covenants that move into another form of ownership, and not everyone embraces them in the same way as the original covenanter.
"We see some go backwards as a result. But with others, people step in and rejuvenate them, so it goes both ways."
The manager of the four stations involved, Russell Hamilton, says the covenants are perpetual, and attached to the land, not the owner.
Any subsequent owner will be equally bound by them, and it is reasonable to expect they would have a similar view of their value.
"A purchaser who did not see that value would not likely find the land an attractive proposition."
Mr Lange has reinvested all profits from the stations’ farming operation into conservation work and efforts are being made to supplement pure farming income to meet those obligations, he says.
