Storm Tautari is eager to make his mark on the Kaipara Moana Remediation Programme. 

The born and bred Whirinaki local has an affinity for the land that is firmly in his blood – not to mention a good dose of entrepreneurship dating back to his primary school childhood.  

Given a lawnmower by a generous Uncle, he established a local lawn mowing business and was on his way to saving money. When his sister wanted to loan $20 he would oblige, only to charge her a $10 loan fee. 

Skip forward a couple of decades and in the space of five years since launching All Out Contracting,  Storm has established a flourishing business specialising in the planting of native trees around our waterways.  

While based in the Far North (Storm is of Ngapuhi, Te Roroa and Ngati Hine descent), he has put his hand up to be part of something he considers very special – KMR – and is looking forward to bringing his team to the Kaipara and helping reinvigorate a beautiful harbour. 

He says in recent years his kaimahi have developed a lot of skills and certificates relevant to their mahi, making his team of eight a highly effective unit. See them in action and you can’t miss just how methodical and accurate they are in getting the job done. 

Storm takes plenty of pride in the impact they are having on the environment and loves revisiting plantings a couple of years down the track to see the progress. 

Storm says he cut his teeth working on the land straight out of school – an environment which was not for him. 

“I have been working fulltime since I was 14 or 15. I started out with my uncle building cattle yards and fences. He broke me in over three months before he started paying me $10 an hour. I stayed with him for years doing riparian planting, forestry, pruning .We would do anything from building stables to fixing a door knob or a client. 

Sadly, Storm’s mentor passed away from cancer but he left a legacy by handing on his contracts to Storm. 

Armed with just a chainsaw, Storm took on a project to cut a 10km track through dense bush. 

Then the work just kept on flowing with contracts with Department of Conservation and the Northland Regional Council – from pest control on blocks up to 1000 hectares to track maintenance and more. 

“I was getting pretty busy so I hired my cousin and decided to keep hiring good, reliable people. Alongside my partner and fellow AOC Director Holli, we have eight fulltime staff and a couple of part timers. We have a number of projects on and a significant one of those will be completed by the end of this year – a 75 hectare riparian planting of 300,000 trees. We are also completing a 50ha native tree regeneration project on the northern side of the magnificent Waipoua Forest.” 

And with KMR work on the Horizon, Storm says his role in the business has changed somewhat. 

“My role is about staying ahead of the boys and making sure everything is totally organised when they hit a job. While I love getting out there on the tools, as the business has continued to grow I find that I am just as likely to be having meetings in a café in between being on the land.” 

And that is what drives Storm to keep nurturing nature. 

“I am in tune with mother nature. When you are planting a tree it is screaming at you with energy and I feel that. It is such a buzz. Every tree, every time. I love the bio diversity and new eco systems we are creating. I love nature because we are all one really. And I am proud of the boys because they are seeing a different way of life. They have the discipline to get up every day and get to work and for me it is really satisfying creating jobs for people.” 

Equally satisfying is spending time with Holli and their children Tamatea and Ariah-Mae (fondly called Mae Mae), four wheel driving, hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities – important downtime for a man so driven and determined to make a difference in Te Tai Tokerau.