A great outdoorsman
Alan Simmons has spent most of his life advocating for the fishing, hunting and conservation. Photo: Supplied
Alan Simmons spent a lifetime making the outdoors a better place, but it was a run-in with a Porsche while shopping for potatoes which has slowed him down.
By Dan Hutchinson
Alan was awarded an MZNM for services to outdoor recreation in the King’s Honours over the long weekend.
The Tūrangi conservationist has almost five decades experience as a hunting and fishing guide, having travelled the world with his clients.
It is a very urban accident recently that has slowed him down.
He was struck by a Porsche whilst shopping for potatoes at a fruit market in Bombay, south of Auckland five months ago.
"I was standing in there buying some spuds and stuff and the bloody Porsche came through the shop full noise and knocked me over and I was trapped under the car."
He is awaiting a full knee replacement operation, scheduled for the coming weeks.
"Shit happens. But by gee, you couldn't get more unlucky than that, could you? I was buying potatoes and I ended up nearly being killed by flying onions.”
Simmons' career in outdoor recreation began as a government deer culler before establishing hunting and fishing guide services.
He has taken clients throughout New Zealand and internationally to destinations including Australia, Mongolia and Siberia.
He was involved in setting up Fish and Game New Zealand and has also helped establish the New Zealand Professional Hunting Guides Association.
Simmons is one of just a few guides to receive official registration before the industry became self-regulating.
He was instrumental in founding the Professional Fishing Guides Association and he has also been successful in politics, founding the Outdoors Party.
He established the party by walking the Tongariro River and gathering the initial 500 members required. The party now has 24,000 members, though Simmons has stepped back from day-to-day operations.
"I'm a great believer that these organisations need new energy, new blood and you know.”
Environmental advocacy has been central to Simmons' work, particularly his opposition to 1080 poison use for pest control.
He remembers appearing on the front page of a Wellington newspaper in 1970 holding a dead bird, one of the first documented 1080 casualties.
"To me, aerially broadcasting a poison all over our land is just not good, especially when there's hundreds of young men out there who would absolutely adore to go out and be trapping and working in the bush."
He has been involved in significant research into river systems, including shingle movement studies on the Tongariro River which.
Born in Wellington, Simmons left at 14 to work on a Taranaki farm before eventually settling in Tūrangi in 1979 to establish his tourism business.
He has helped create ecotourism opportunities in New Zealand from the 1980s as one of the first professional hunting and fishing guides.
Mr Simmons invested in the education of foreign tourists to encourage visiting New Zealand and in promoting and developing standards for protecting the environment and for professional guiding.
He has served on numerous fishing organisations including the New Zealand Recreational Fishing Council from 1989 to 1995, the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater Anglers since 1999 and the New Zealand Professional Fishing Guides Association.
He participated in the Taupō Sports Fishery Review and has published four books on hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation between 1987 and 2024.
Despite his current mobility limitations, Simmons remains optimistic about his recovery.
"Everybody I know that's had a knee op said that they're bloody brilliant afterwards," he says.
The official comments
Alan Simmons has helped create ecotourism opportunities in New Zealand from the 1980s as one of the first professional hunting and fishing guides.
Mr Simmons invested in the education of foreign tourists to encourage visiting New Zealand and in promoting and developing standards for protecting the environment and for professional guiding.
He was a Ministerial appointment to help set up the New Zealand Fish and Game Council in 1990, joining the Council until 2005. He similarly helped set up the Eastern Fish and Game Council and was a member until 2024, chairing the Fish Committee.
He wrote a paper promoting the adoption of a United States program to raise funds for wetland restoration via introduction of a duck stamp, leading to the establishment of the New Zealand Game Bird Habitat Stamp Regulations 1993.
He has served on numerous fishing organisations including the New Zealand Recreational Fishing Council from 1989 to 1995, the New Zealand Federation of Freshwater Anglers since 1999 and the New Zealand Professional Fishing Guides Association. He participated in the Taupō Sports Fishery Review. He published four books on hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation between 1987 and 2024.
More broadly, Mr Simmons has been Vice President of the Wairarapa Art Club and Wairarapa Deer Stalkers Association, and a member of the Wellington Arts Council.