8 August 2007

Wellington conservation heroes honoured

Five groups, two individuals, a business and a school have received Wellington Conservation Awards, for enhancing New Zealand’s natural and historic attributes and inspiring others to get involved in conservation and enjoy the outdoors.

The awards have been run annually by Department of Conservation and the Wellington Conservation Board for more than a decade, and are presented by Conservation Minister Chris Carter during Conservation Week.

There were 19 nominations for this year’s awards, with two merit awards also presented at a ceremony at the Beehive tonight.

Mr Carter said the contributions and benefits of the work undertaken by award nominees never failed to impress.

“Their vision and commitment, the wonderful results that they achieve, and their obvious passion for the work must surely inspire others to follow in their footsteps.

“Their hard work and determination has meant that our natural and cultural heritage is well on its way to being preserved for future generations.”

This year’s awards went to:

Jean Luke for outstanding contribution as one of the principal advocates for protection and conservation within Queen Elizabeth Park on the Kapiti coast;

Friends of the Otaki River for the management and care of the Otaki River by restoring key ecosystems in the river corridor to sustain its values for future generations;

The Horowhenua Hunting Club for working co-operatively with DOC and others in the community to build and maintain huts, bridges and tracks for all to enjoy the Tararua Forest Park;

Keep Porirua Beautiful for the creation of ‘Te Maara @ Cornwall’ a community place with conservation, environmental and social values to be used for recreation and learning;

Dennis Keall, Hutt City, for recognition of a life long commitment to the conservation of New Zealand lizards, providing a wealth of knowledge of animal husbandry and habitat requirements;

Combined Rotary Clubs of Wellington for the creation of the Discovery Area as an area of historical interest and learning for visitors to the Karori Sanctuary;

Volunteer Wellington for coordinating and sourcing volunteers for the many community based conservation projects in the region;

Muritai School Eastbourne for building conservation into sustainability their environmental education and sustainability programmes, and involving the whole school community;

Ata Rangi Ltd, a Martinborough winery for incorporating conservation outcomes in its business, and helping nurture similar projects.

Merit awards went to Island Bay Coastcare Group for energising the community to care for and restore the dune remnants at Island Bay Beach; and Raumati South School in special recognition of its contribution to planting at Queen Elizabeth Park and for making conservation fun.

Conservation Board chairperson Bev Abbott said the high quality of the 19 nominations had once again made judging difficult for the panel of Conservation Board and Department of Conservation Wellington Conservancy representatives.

“They’re all conservation champions in terms of the wonderful work they are doing to protect, restore, and promote our natural and historic heritage for New Zealanders to enjoy now and into the future.”

For more information and photo opportunities/photographs of recipients please contact Wendy Newton Phone 04 470 8423

Conservation Award recipient profiles and contact details:

WELLINGTON CITY

Volunteer Wellington, Innovation category.
Volunteer Wellington was established in 1992 and has developed its conservation work through its “Employees in the community” programme, established in July 2006. With the additional capacity of a co-ordinator, the programme has considerably increased the number of volunteers working on conservation projects.
The ongoing corporate volunteer programme has the potential to place hundreds more corporate volunteers into conservation projects throughout the Wellington area in the coming years.
Volunteer Wellington was awarded for their foresight and initiative in setting up this programme. They provide a valuable resource, and allow those involved the opportunity for a rewarding experience and a chance to gain first-hand knowledge of the environmental and conservation issues in the region.

Combined Rotary Clubs of Wellington, Historic heritage category.
The combined Rotary Clubs of Wellington (10 individual clubs) came together in 2003 to undertake a community based project to create a permanent landmark in commemoration of the Centenary of Rotary 2005. They decided a project to advance the strategic plan of the Karori Sanctuary was highly suitable for his and approached the Sanctuary for a suggestion.
The centenary project proposed by the Sanctuary was to develop the upper dam construction site that was originally built between: 1906 – 1908 to supply water to the capital, as an entirely new Discovery Area. The object of bringing alive for visitors the history of the building of the dam, to learn about New Zealand’s natural heritage in an easily accessible location. They have continued to build on and maintain this important piece of history. This reward is in recognition of their dedication and ongoing commitment to this project.

PORIRUA

Keep Porirua Beautiful, Conservation education and advocacy category.
Keep Porirua Beautiful rejuvenated a project to create a community garden, an area created by the residents for the residents. Te Maara @ Cornwall Crescent is a community garden which has been established on a council reserve in Porirua East. The community area is seen as having conservation, environmental and social values; and provides the residents of Porirua with opportunities to carry out community activities with these important themes in mind. The many volunteers from the community have worked hard to remove exotic trees and replace these with natives; involvement of school children in planting has strengthened their knowledge and love for native plants. This along with ongoing nurturing of a medicinal herb garden of 130 native plants and future plans to have wildlife projects, more gardening activities and composting helps further spread the conservation message.
The vision of Te Maara @ Cornwall has largely been contributable to Keep Porirua Beautiful’s John Poppleton who has been instrumental in getting the project off the ground. John has been the driving force over time and has developed relationships with many parties all of which can share in this success story.

KAPITI /Horowhenua

The Horowhenua Hunting Club, Recreation category.
Club members, from many different backgrounds and trades and a wide range of ages, have unselfishly applied their combined talents and skills over the years to work alongside the Department of Conservation and others in the community to improve the Tararua Ranges as a recreational asset. This has included improving and maintaining access tracks, huts and fundraising to build an essential bridge. They are united though through their deep respect for the Tararua Ranges.

Friends of the Otaki River, joint recipient, Habitat restoration category

Greater Wellington Regional Council in 1998 invited members of a community to be involved in the development and implementation of a floodplain management plant for their local river. Friends of the Otaki River have met regularly since 1999 and have worked with the council to restore key ecosystems along the river corridor. They foster a sense of community pride in the river and its environment and promote actions to sustain its values; working hard to build an area that local residents can enjoy and be immersed in wildlife.
CONTACT: Max Lutz (06) 364 5569 or 027 343 7249

Jean Luke, joint recipient, Habitat restoration category

Jean Luke has devoted her much of her voluntary effort in conservation to restoration activities within Queen Elizabeth Park on the Kapiti coast, identified 20 years ago as being an important ecological area for restoration. Ten years after identification, the key areas were fenced-off and the project was fully underway. Jean personally edited policy documents to ensure the project’s success and continuation. She has put in countless hours over 20 years - from conception of the project to all the phases along the way. This has included various re-vegetation projects where she assists with a smile and imparts encouraging wisdom to members of the community and school children involved.

HUTT CITY

Muritai School Eastbourne, Young Conservationist category.
Muritai School has implemented the 3 R’s: Reuse, Reduce Recycle and also introduced conservation into their curriculum, setting up a plant nursery to supply native plants for the re-generation of local sand dunes. The older children help the younger children, realising that the success of all their projects involves everyone working together to do what they can.

Dennis Keall, Kaitiakitanga category.
Dennis first started holding lizards in captivity in his teenage years about 40 years ago. Over the years he has accumulated invaluable knowledge on the behaviour and habitat requirements of rare New Zealand lizards. He has readily shared his knowledge with conservation agencies to help national and local species recovery programmes. Recognised also as a successful captive breeder, he is fully self- funded. At times when he has been offered monetary contributions to fund his work, he has refused preferring that the money go towards other aspects of lizard conservation instead.
Dennis has also mentored young herpetologists, encouraging their studies and has allowed students and scientists access to his captive collection for their scientific research when he has seen obvious benefits for the species in question.
This award is appreciation for many years hard work and imparting of invaluable knowledge that has meant that NZ Native Lizards have not become “Forgotten Fauna”.

WAIRARAPA

Ata Rangi Ltd, Business in conservation category

This Martinborough-based winery is pulling out all the stops to run its business in a sustainable way. The founder of the business has long been a conservationist and in his spare time actively works on native tree planting in a bush block set aside on a rural property. This love of natives has led to a percentage of their wine sales going to Project Crimson, a charitable conservation trust to protect New Zealand’s “Christmas Trees”, the Rata and Pohutukawa. This ardent conservationist is further inspiring others in the community, forming a local group to guide and nurture conservation initiatives in the area.

ENDS

© Scoop Media