New Zealand botanist Hugh Wilson was called a fool and a dreamer when he proposed his plan to save a “worthless” patch of land on the eastern coast of New Zealand. He went ahead anyway, and is having the last laugh—the plan has become reality, the magnificent Hinewai Reserve. It only took decades of work and unflagging faith in nature.

He remembers seeing the land, overrun by gorse, which is, essentially, thorny shrubs: “In 1987, it was basically a very untidy looking marginal farm. . . . I was thinking at that stage, ‘Gosh, wouldn’t I love a bit of land here just to let nature reassert herself.’”

To Wilson, “letting nature reassert herself,” meant not spending time, money, and energy fighting the gorse—he’d let natural processes fix the problem. Sure enough, native trees moved in, protected by the gorse when they were small, crowding the gorse out when they grew tall and took all the light.

The Hinewai Reserve is now over 3,750 acres of forest, pedestrian trails, and beautiful, native bush. Wilson manages it all, eschewing fossil fuels, bicycling to Christchurch for supplies (seven hours each way), and pretty much working 24/7, whether it’s trimming bushes or taking care of administrative issues.

Wilson has inspired many people to become environmentalists, or at least environmentally wary, telling the public in interviews, “We’re really good at damaging things. We’re not all that good about putting things right...“All the universe can expect of you is for you to do your best.”