North & South – June 2019

18 | NORTH & SOUTH|JUNE 2019

QUEENSTOWN

SEAN BEALE

FOREST FOR

THE TREES

A newstart-up environmental

enterprisehas plantedthe

seeds ofchange onthe

outskirts of Queenstown.

I

n late2001,a youngAdamSmithwasontheadventureofa

lifetime,sailinginSouthAmerica,whenKiwiyachtsman

SirPeterBlakewasattackedandmurderedbypirates.Not

farfromtheAmazon,Smithandhisfriendsimmediately

wenttohelpthecrew,whowereshootinga documentary

onillegallogging.“Theywereshort-handed,sowehelped

sailtheboatsotheycouldfinishtheirmission.”

Smithhadalreadymadea blazingstarttohiscareer,after

graduatingfromtheUniversityofAucklandwithdegreesin

commerceandproperty,includinginvolvementintheAuckland

SofitelandLighterQuaydevelopments.Butthatexperiencein

theAmazonhada lastingeffectonhim.“Itwasoneofthose

things that occur through life that motivate you to use your