It was announced on Tuesday that 53,000ha of high-country land between Lake Wanaka and Queenstown - most of Motatapu, Mount Soho, Glencoe and Coronet Peak stations - will be put under protective covenants in an agreement between the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust and Soho Property Ltd.
The company is linked to British millionaire record producer Robert ''Mutt'' Lange, who bought the four stations leased in perpetuity by Soho.
The covenant is by far the largest conservation undertaking on private land in New Zealand's history.
The area contains some of Otago's - and New Zealand's - most outstanding natural landscape.
It includes alpine tussockland, wetlands and shrublands which are home to endangered plants and and animals including gecko and the New Zealand falcon, and contains sites of historic, cultural and archaeological significance, as well as recreational areas loved by a range of users. (The Motatapu Challenge multisport event, for example, is held annually across three of the stations.) ''Open space covenants'' are voluntary partnerships between private landowners and the QEII National Trust, designed to ''protect special places on private land for the benefit of present and future generations'' in line with the trust's mission statement.
As a perpetual trustee, the trust ensures the covenant remains protected forever, binding the current and future owners of the protected land.
The trust is an independent statutory organisation, but also works with the Department of Conservation, regional and district councils, Heritage New Zealand, Landcare Research, the New Zealand Farm Environment Award Trust and other groups and individuals to achieve its goals.
Covenants are often made to protect small parcels of land within a landowner's larger block.
To put the 53,000ha Soho covenant into context, the average size of a New Zealand covenant is 29.5ha.
The largest covenant covers 6564ha, and the total land registered or approved as under covenant is 125,137ha.
The Soho covenant will bring the total area protected by covenants to more than 178,000ha - about the same size as Stewart Island.
The Soho covenant will safeguard native plant and animal habitats and historic and recreation values, and also formalise and further improve public access to the area.
Soho and Mr Lange have reportedly already invested heavily on the stations, through pest plant and animal control, planting and significant fencing.
Under a covenant, funding for the likes of fencing can be shared with the QEII trust or regional authorities, but it is clear Mr Lange has been prepared to put his money where his mouth is without expecting support.
He has been hailed an ''eco-hero'' with an ''impeccable'' conservation record who, according to Soho Property lawyer Willy Sussman simply wants to ''make a positive difference to the world''.
QEII National Trust chairman James Guild said Mr Lange had made an ''extraordinary bequest to the country'' that went far beyond any Overseas Investment Office requirements and would ''effectively be New Zealand's first national park in private hands''.
Conservation Minister Nick Smith said the undertaking was ''an extraordinary act of generosity'' and was ''a real message to those who are point-blank opposed to overseas ownership that you need to be more flexible than that''.
The agreement showed the Government did not need to own every area of land with conservation values, and could achieve more by helping private sector conservation, and that the covenants meant ''the public is getting the benefit, but someone else is meeting the costs of the ongoing maintenance of the area''.
The political grandstanding was the only sour note of the day, given the context.
It is understandable everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon in this case, but credit should simply be given where credit is due.
Mr Lange's gift is unprecedented. It was unsolicited, is generous in the extreme, and is a long-term and far-sighted investment in New Zealand land and commitment to generations of New Zealanders.
It is humbling, inspiring, and immensely appreciated. New Zealanders should simply be grateful, as we are all richer for it.
