In August 1975, Fraser Ross, a pharmacist at Timaru Hospital and early Forest & Bird member, took on the thankless task of restoring the Arowhenua Bush after a freak northwesterly gale destroyed much of the podocarp forest.
The aftermath of the storm left an almost barren wasteland in its wake. Many claimed further damage caused by hares and rabbits would prevent trees from ever regrowing in the area.
After 50 years of effort, the bush is once again populated by towering trees and thriving once more due to Mr Ross’ unwavering efforts.
Now entering his 90s, he said he looked back on his efforts with fondness.
"I went out there initially and it was a battlefield of fallen trees.
"I wrote to the farmer and owner and he invited me out."
"I went and had a look and it was devastating. I am so pleased I never walked away.
"You don’t give up."
He said the first step he took towards regenerating the bush was collecting seeds from the area and propagating them.
"I’d never done much propagating before but my first trials were successful.
"I had beginner’s luck.
"There’s a principle behind restoration, and that is the plants and seed must be eco-sourced, taken from within a 5km zone to maintain the purity of the stock and the bush.
"I’ve done most of the propagating myself over 50 years, and if you walk out there, most of those trees have been propagated by myself."
The pioneering use of individual tree guards was a big factor in mitigating many of the challenges Mr Ross faced while attempting to regrow the bush.
It was surreal to think it was approaching 50 years since his work began, he said.
"It didn’t start out as a project, it slowly evolved.
"I think once you’ve put a spade in the ground you become part of a landscape.
"You get a feeling of responsibility once it gets to a certain stage."
"I went out to Temuka last Friday and I passed the turn on Hopkinson Rd to the bush and I said to myself, ‘I’ve been out here nearly a thousand times, was it worth it?’.
"Yes, it was worth it."
Despite receiving the bulk of the adulation he said it could not have been done without the help of many others.
"I must pay tribute to the first owner Ray Lyon. He was excellent.
"You come on to their land, you’ve got no legal rights, and then you’ve got to start restoring an area.
"We were treated like family and he allowed me to just do what I needed to.
"The second owners, the Bowman family, have been very good too."
Forest & Bird members had also been a lot of help, he said.
"One of my special helpers was Mary Bullard; she helped me for 25 years or so.
"She unfortunately died but just before she did she left a memorial seat in the bush.
"She did quite a bit of planting for us so it is great to have that tribute.
"I’ve got a good helper at the moment, but he’s getting on.
"He’s in his 70s now."
He said he could not get out to the bush now as often as he used to.
"How often I can get out there depends on other people.
"I’m a bit slow now so I don’t do a lot when I get out there but I walk the tracks and just have a check around.
"The major effort now is keeping weeds out of it, which we are on top of.
"The other big issue is I’ve got a whole lot of notes and records and don’t know what to do with them. My hope is that the museum will take them."
Mr Ross has been a cornerstone of South Canterbury conservation with his work extending far beyond just the Arowhenua Bush.
In 2009 he received a QSM for services to conservation, he was a founding member of the South Canterbury Conservation Trust and he established the Fraser Ross Environmental Fund through the Aoraki Foundation.
Mr Ross also played an instrumental part in the "Save Manapouri" campaign, the regeneration work of Conway and Kakahu Bush and he was a big part of the kakī (black stilt) recovery project.
He said he planned to stay in conservation as long as he could.
"There’s no more big plans or projects but I will continue keeping an eye on the things I’ve done. I’m just persistent.
"I hope there will be some young people out there that will stay in South Canterbury and look after the special things we have here."
