Mark Simkin

Many Trust members work on the Hill and live on Tākaka Hill. The Wool Shed Cafe is a hub for community gatherings and events, sheep and beef farmers, tourism operators with homestays and Ngarua Cave tours, Tasman Pine Forest and the Iconic Ravensdown Ngarua Lime Works. To genuinely represent community-led conservation, it’s essential to have representation from industry and business. This ensures that the Trust's decision-making process is based on the range of perspectives representative of its community. Businesses and industry on the Hill have Significant Natural Areas (SNA) on their land and, as private landowners, are acutely aware of their role as kaitiakitanga.

Trustee and Ngarua Lime Works Quarry Manager Mark Simkin has worked at the quarry for the last 31 years, starting in 1991 as a labourer for his Dad, who managed the quarry then.

Mark grew up on a farm in Rockville, Golden Bay. His connection with the environment began with farming and his love of fishing and white baiting in the Collingwood River. Quarrying is in Mark’s blood. His father quarried dolomite in the 70s and then lime and marble on Tākaka Hill. The marble from TākakaHill was used to refurbish the parliament buildings. It wasn’t until his late 30s that Mark started to notice changes in the Collingwood River; it wasn’t running as clean as it used to. When Mark used to whitebait on the river 20 years ago, there were 50 people. Today, there are at least double that.

Quarrying tends to have a bad reputation. However, quarries in New Zealand cover only 4% of the land and play an essential role in NZ roads, houses and farming. Ravensdown's carbon footprint minimisation programme includes a partnership between Ngarua Lime Works and the Trust for Habitat Restoration. Ravensdown has built a play propagation area for the Trust to grow native and lime/marble species hardened off to sub-alpine conditions, ready to be planted in the quarry restoration area.