Jim Childerstone, long-time columnist for NZ Logger, recently passed away. Along with forestry and writing, he was a man of many talents – fencer, shearer, shepherd mountaineer, keen sportsman and ‘there wasn’t much he couldn’t shoot between the eyes with his trusty 303, says his wife Margot.
His love of nature began at an early age when living with his aunt Jeannie and uncle Kim Ferguson in Arrowtown during the mid-forties. Kim was a keen fisherman, hunter and tramper.
Jim’s sense of social justice was cemented when living briefly in South Africa as a young boy. He took up a number of causes including against the mining of lithium, which degrades lakes and rivers, sometimes taking away the livelihoods of indigenous people, says Margot.
He was all for biofuels for transport, laminated timber beams for construction and wooden windmills, thus avoiding costly and environmentally unfriendly steel, she adds.
He established a forestry consultancy, and took a stand against the wholesale destruction of wilding ‘pests’. A dedicated environmentalist, he always said that social justice and the environment go hand in hand.
He will be missed.
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