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Man Spends 30 Years Turning Degraded Land into Massive Forest – Fools & Dreamers (Full Documentary)

Happen Films · documentary · Watch on YouTube

Environment, agriculture & food systemsAnimals & natureDocumentaries & storytelling

What it is

Fools & Dreamers is a 30-minute documentary about Hinewai Nature Reserve in New Zealand, where botanist Hugh Wilson let gorse grow as a nurse canopy to regenerate native forest. It shows the results after 30 years and the local skepticism he faced.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Shared in climate and land-use threads as a vivid example of how letting land regrow can restore forest.

  • 4 people recommended it
  • 5 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2019, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “Hugh oversees 1500 hectares resplendent in native forest, where birds and other wildlife are abundant”

    Documentary on Hugh Wilson regenerating native forest at Hinewai reserve over 30 years.

    elijahparker, 2019-09 · Recommendation · in “Bird populations have declined since 1970 across nearly all habitats”

  2. “I enjoy sharing the short film in this vein”

    Short film on land returning to forest in New Zealand over 30 years.

    tastyfreeze, 2020-11 · Recommendation · in “Is it better to plant trees or let forests regrow naturally?”

  3. “This is a great short film that goes into detail about the project and the challenges faced in getting it off the ground”

    Details the forest project and challenges faced getting it started.

    dfcowell, 2021-10 · Recommendation · in “Downsides to planting trillions of trees”

  4. “This video is especially poignant, and really shows the dramatic impact simply doing nothing has”

    Shows the dramatic impact of simply leaving land alone to regrow.

    Aromasin, 2022-05 · Recommendation · in “Historic fertilizer crunch threatens food security”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: rewilding, reforestation, new zealand, hugh wilson, land use

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