Paul Ensor is a full-time farmer.

He’s a fourth generation farmer raising merino sheep and angus cattle out at Glenaan Station.

But when he’s not in the paddocks, he’s clearing weeds, planting native trees and caring for the Rakaia river.

“Everyone’s busy, but if you see something’s important, you’ve just got to make time.”

Ensor is chairperson of the Whitcombe Landcare Group, a team of farmers who coordinate projects and raise funding for conservation work on their land.

The 11 members manage a combined 42,000 hectares of land, spanning from Cleardale Station to Lake Heron Station, that borders the Rakaia river.

“Our primary goal is to enhance our natural environment,” Ensor said.

The group helps to centralise the different concerns and plans of farmers, and helps secure coordinated funding for large-scale operations.

Environment Canterbury (ECan), the department of conservation (DoC), Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), Fish & Game and more are undertaking projects on Whitcombe group land.

“There’s research going on for pied oystercatchers, there’s predator monitoring, bird counts, weed control, salmon spawn counts...”

It’s a lot to juggle, so joining the Mid Canterbury Catchment Collective (MCCC) earlier this year was a no-brainer.

The collective communicates with the numerous catchment groups in the area to streamline project management.

Ensor has been with the group for 20 years, and said he’s seen a lot of change - particularly with funding and land use.

“There’s so many different funding pools around, it’s quite a complicated matrix,” he said.

He’s grown more concerned about people who come out to the river for recreation.Ensor said hikers and hunters, as a result of the Araroa trail, have become more prevalent along the driver in the last five years.

“We’re quite concerned about vehicles and riverbeds where we’ve got rare birds, like the black-fronted tern and wrybills, nesting in the river.

“Vehicles [end up] driving over top of the nests, because you can’t see them.”He said a lack of awareness is the issue, but wants to avoid “polluting” the area with signage.

The group is in talks with different organisations to see what sorts of solutions could be reached.

“We’re keen to share the environment, we just need to make sure we’re doing it in a way that isn’t detrimental.”

All in all, Ensor said the Whitcombe Landcare Group aims to nurture their land for the future - as any farmer would.

“Farmers always say they want their land left in a better state than when they took it over.”

By Anisha Satya