‘It’s gang-gang country’: the landholders restoring farmland to forest in the Victorian alps

Karst Kruen with red gum trees he planted in 2021 on his 60-hectare (150-acre) property, Karlindy. He is regenerating the former farmland to turn it into a nature reserve and bird sanctuary. Photograph: Penny Stephens/The Guardian

Three and a half years ago, Karst Kreun bought 60 hectares (150 acres) of land by Mount Buller in memory of his late wife, Lindy.

Located in Mansfield in Victoria’s north-east, the property, named “Karlindy” after his wife, had been used for generations for intense farming and seed production.