East Coast conservationist, influencer and Gisborne council candidate Sam “The Trap Man” Gibson has fronted a new documentary in an effort to highlight the urgency of restoring and future-proofing Aotearoa’s most fragile landscapes.

Think Like a Forest, which premiered at the Beehive last month before being released on TVNZ, follows Gibson as he meets with farmers, scientists and communities to learn more about the environmental initiative “Recloaking Papatūānuku”.

Recloaking Papatūānuku aims to re-establish native forests throughout New Zealand by working with landowners to return crucial ecosystems to climate-vulnerable areas.

The plan’s goal is to protect New Zealand’s biodiversity, mitigate flooding and drought, and build resilience against increasingly severe weather events.

Gibson, speaking to the Herald after the documentary’s release, said he was drawn to the programme by its kaupapa.

“Resilience is what we need in our landscape, and that became really clear to me after [Cyclone Gabrielle].”

Vehicles sit amid debris and floodwaters from Cyclone Gabrielle in an orchard on Puketapu Rd, west of Napier, in February 2023. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Auckland, the Coromandel, the Bay of Plenty and parts of the East Coast were ravaged by extreme weather events in 2023, with the likes of Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland Anniversary Floods collectively costing Kiwis billions in damage and losses.

“Getting these forests back on these really erodible and high-risk hillscapes, it is urgent if we’re going to be looking to mitigate increased flooding and fire risk over the next ... 90 years.”

Recloaking Papatūānuku isn’t about reviving one large forest but about restoring the right pockets of land to protect it for future generations, Gibson said.

“It’s those steep gullies, it’s those wetlands, it’s that class seven and eight hillside that should never have been cleared in the first place.

“It’s all of those really unproductive pockets across our entire landscape.”

More than 32,500 people follow Sam "The Trap Man" Gibson’s conservation, trapping and foraging work online. Photo / Alistair Guthrie, PureAdvantage

Contrary to public perception, farmers, foresters and scientists have been largely aligned on the approach.

“Farmers want this too,” Gibson said.

“They’re really aware that the unproductive parts of their farms should be in forest and should be fenced ... They just need the financial mechanisms to be able to do that.”

More than 32,500 people follow Gibson on Instagram for his foraging, conservation and trapping content, which testifies to the popularity of his work at hand.

But collaborating with Pure Advantage – the group behind Recloaking Papatūānuku – provided him with an opportunity to bring the work he’s involved in to homes throughout the motu.

“I would like New Zealanders to see the roles that forests play every day in regulating those high-intensity rainfall events, and droughts as well,” Gibson said.

Think Like A Forest, the documentary fronted by Gibson, is now available on TVNZ+ after premiering at the Beehive on August 20. Photo / Alistair Guthrie, PureAdvantage

He hopes people who watch the documentary will “understand and value our forest systems in their landscapes” and feel inspired to “go out and plant in those high-risk areas”.

Planting at scale was achievable if people worked together and acted locally, he added.

“It’s not real difficult to do in those small little bush gullies and those small urban parks, like they actually hold a lot of value,” Gibson said.

“Trees are super generous to us with what we do. Maybe it’s time to be a little generous back.”

Gibson started off in conservation at just 12 years old, when he was sent into the thick Te Urewera bush to train as a trapper.

“The classroom wasn’t necessarily the best classroom for me,” he said.

“[Conservation is] a space where I can be me. It’s a space that rewards hard work, and over time, you can also see some really incredible changes and shifts.”

Alongside his conservation work, Gibson is standing for the Gisborne District Council in this year’s local body elections. 

Tom Rose is an Auckland-based journalist who covers breaking news, specialising in lifestyle, entertainment and travel. He joined the Herald in 2023.