Sir Stephen Tindall

TĀNE MAHUTA

The most significant experience for me was seeing Tāne Mahuta in the Waipoua Forest for the first time. I was about 18 on that first visit, and then a few years later I saw this mighty kauri at night. It was quite eerie being in the forest in the dark, and seeing this enormous tree silhouetted against the forest was an amazing spiritual experience.

Since that first visit with Tāne, native trees have stuck with me and have been a part of my life in one way or another.

The first house my wife and I bought together was in Glenfield, right on a native reserve. We had kahikatea, rimu and kauri growing all around us that our kids would play in, and even a 110-year-old massive kānuka that grew up through the deck with a canopy that covered our house.

We started The Tindall Foundation in 1994 and Tāne Mahuta was still with me as the visual symbol of the foundation and a part of our vision for what we could give back to New Zealand. I truly can’t imagine a New Zealand without our kauri trees; they’re part of who we are.

Along with the protection of native trees, I became interested in how we could help Kiwis to simply plant more. It’s something most people can do – plant a native tree in your backyard, gift a native tree to celebrate something, or get involved with a community tree-planting day.

As part of that thinking, we asked Project Crimson to start Trees That Count and became founding partners with a charity whose sole focus is on helping to plant millions more native trees for our future.

It’s amazing to watch this idea take flight and see New Zealanders support and show how much they love native trees, too. Our native trees are part of our DNA and I think they bring the best out of us as people.