KEY POINTS:
The determined vision of a Whitianga matriarch has provided tourists with the opportunity to buy native trees in the area to offset their carbon footprints.
A block of valuable land, about 56 hectares, on the Whitianga harbour has been made available for tree planting to help regenerate what was once kauri forest.
The land used to belong to local farmer Jo McNiel and her husband, Derek, who were also moteliers in the area.
After Mr McNiel's death about six years ago, Jo McNiel carried on with plans to protect a total of 72 hectares they owned from future commercial development.
Opposite the township, the main block of their land will have kauri and other trees reinstated in combination with Kiwi Green, a local initiative which has been getting Whitianga businesses certified as environmentally friendly.
Kiwi Green co-director John Dacey said tourists would be able to choose from a range of native trees, including $30 kauri with each tree offsetting 2560km of air travel, or 1200km by road.
According to Herald calculations, it would take 14 kauri to offset a return flight from London.
Mr Dacey said 500 of the trees had been pre-planted and so far 50 had sold.
The purchasers get a certificate with their name and the location of the tree using GPS, so theoretically they could locate it and see its progress in years to come.
Mr Dacey said he got involved with the Kiwi Green concept after he began organic cattle farming in the area.
"I thought organics are good for cattle - what about us?"
He and his wife started sourcing and using eco-friendly products around their home and expanded to a distribution network to supply motels.
Mr Dacey was a friend of Mrs McNiel, who he said was a character and compared to "Granny", the mother-in-law of Jed Clampett from the old American television series The Beverly Hillbillies.
"I'd sit on her deck while she shot targets in the bush with an old air pistol."
Mrs McNiel's grandson Tony had been closely involved with efforts to get the land protected.
He said that in 2005 the property, worth millions on the open market, was secured under a QEII covenant which prevented any commercial development.
An important focus of the agreement was the restoration of native trees, he said.
Three days after the agreement was finalised Ms McNiel died, aged 96.
Mr McNiel said his grandmother, who split her time between Devonport and Whitianga, was always a great conservationist and recycled whatever she could.
"In her later years she used two-litre milk bottles as floats to keep her buoyant when swimming." Mr McNiel said she could be fearsome if she disagreed with someone and was well known for her spats over political or local issues she was passionate about.
About 20 years ago Mrs McNiel had started to notice changes at Whitianga which disturbed her. "She was concerned about the commercialised development of the town ... she wanted to protect the rural feeling of the area so started investigating ways to protect that."
