Winter grazing critic claims harassment

His garden has been poisoned, his gate ripped from its hinges and a rock thrown through his van window.

Environmentalist Matt Coffey claims he’s being intimidated and people are trying to run him out of the northern Southland town of Mossburn because of his involvement in a campaign against winter grazing.

Coffey, a carpenter who runs a native plant nursery, says he’s lost about 50 native plants, including some young to¯ tara trees, after his boundary and roadside verge were sprayed with poison.

Both areas are easily accessible and he believes the spraying was deliberate, the latest in a series of intimidatory attacks designed to stop his campaign, or force him to leave.

‘‘I don’t use sprays here and my neighbour is always really careful about where he sprays. I didn’t realise plants were dying until he came and asked me about it.

‘‘It’s been sprayed into the air. Half of each tree, closest to the boundary fence, is dying. I’m pretty gutted about it.’’

Out on the roadside, Coffey had planted natives to eventually crowd out the broom growing on the verge. The broom remains but the plants, some with protective plastic surrounds, are dead or dying.

He’s reported the damage, and the incident where his gate was knocked over and left on the driveway, to police.

His house is at the end of a quiet street on the edge of the town, and he hasn’t heard any suspicious vehicles.

Earlier this year, Stuff reported on an incident at Coffey’s property, when farmers held a barbecue at the end of his driveway.

‘‘I reported all of that to the police and the harassment has continued since then. I’ve been followed and my vehicle has been rammed.’’

Last year there was a social media page designed to run him out of town, but that has been inactive, he says.

Coffey runs his own social media page to highlight environmental damage to New Zealand rivers and helps other environmentalists with their own pages.

He says he can understand why farmers will be annoyed with the campaign, which showed photos of cows standing in deep mud on some Southland farms.

‘‘They’ll have to change their farming practices.’’