As a local lad, he grew up nearby and hunted on the property. Six years ago, Mr Cairns and his family moved back to Owaka where his wife is deputy principal at Catlins Area School and their two young sons attend school.
They live on the family sheep and beef farm and he is a full-time manager for Southern Forests and has been overseeing the Wisp development.
Ingka Investments bought the 5500ha Wisp Hill in 2021 and undertook 330ha of planting radiata pines that year. Having an existing relationship with the property’s previous owners made the transition out of farming and into forestry easier, he said.
Between 500ha and 1000ha have been planted every year since to now total about 3300ha planted. The most fertile land has been subdivided and sold.
It is a long-term afforestation project with a 30-year rotation. Most of the forest is radiata pine, but up to 20% has been reserved for longer-rotation species such as redwood, beech, totara and rewarewa.
Twenty-five percent has been set aside for close-to-nature native plantings and 15% for permanent biodiversity conservation.
Mr Cairns acknowledged Ingka’s first purchase in New Zealand was a fairly high-profile acquisition which attracted its critics.
He said there was "nothing to hide" on the Wisp.
"I personally never had a problem with it. To be honest, it’s not the greatest farming country in the back here. It’s cold, miserable and wet," he said.
There would always be a few diehard sheep and beef farmers who would be against forestry and it was unlikely they would ever change their mind. But generally, the local community had been "pretty good" about it, he said.
The biggest hurdle had been getting locals to understand that it was not a carbon forest.
Rather, it was a huge amount of investment in planting good tree genetics and then managing the plantings for timber, he said.
Mr Cairns was frustrated those who voiced their opinions about the forestry industry often did not seem to understand the size of that industry and its contribution to the economy.
And he was also pushing the message of how the Wisp Hill development benefited his own local community through the employment of locals.
There were more people living on the property now than when it was a sheep and beef farm, he said.
The property had relatively poor access infrastructure and there has been a focus on upgrading farm tracks to provide all-year access.
A lot of country was solid bracken fern and gorse and about 350ha and 400ha of gorse had been physically cleared.
The property has been planted to about 420m above sea level. On the higher country, Pinus attenuata which is resilient in snow and high winds with similar timber qualities to radiata, has been planted.
Growth rates in the area were some of the highest in the country for radiata with the rain falling at the right time of year, Mr Cairns said.
The country was a "perfect" habitat for pests and under Ingka’s stewardship, 530 wild pigs, 1600 red deer, 4000 possums, 300 rabbits and 3000 hares have been removed from the property.
A permit system is used for recreational hunters at weekends and neighbours also contacted Mr Cairns if they had any issues. Ingka funded materials to upgrade a boundary fence with hot wires for pig control.
An ecological survey was undertaken on the property and monitoring is ongoing. The Wisp Range was a semi-alpine range and contained plants that, at the highest of altitudes, were virtually only found elsewhere in the Southern Alps, he said.
The Catlins River runs through the middle of the property and there are set-back measures to protect water quality and ongoing water monitoring. Manuka has been planted alongside waterways and Mr Cairns has also been working with the Catlins Water Catchment Group.
While there is a minimum of 10m on waterways, many have set-backs of 30m, 40m or 50m, so there are never any issues of felling trees near waterways. Several ponds have been built for monsoon bucket-dipping in the event of a fire.
Ingka has also upgraded access to the start of the Thisbe Valley Track, which provides access to the Maclennan Range and is popular with hunters and trampers. The company has also planted the likes of totara, mountain beech, red beech, white pine and pittosporum in the area.
