16 October 2009

Click to enlarge Colin Scadden hard at work volunteering to weed at Onoke Spit during Seaweek 2009 (Amanda Cosgrove, DOC)

Colin Scadden’s lengthy commitment to conservation in the Wairarapa has been acknowledged by the Department of Conservation as he stands down from the National Wildlife Centre Trust and the Pukaha Mount Bruce board.

DOC Wairarapa Area manager Chris Lester said Colin had made a huge contribution to the conservation efforts at Pukaha Mt Bruce in Wairarapa as a member of the trust for 25 years, and of the board since its inception. His services to conservation earned him membership of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002.

“This is the end of a great era. What we know about New Zealand’s native birds owes a lot to people like Colin,” Chris says.

Colin, will continue to be a volunteer at Pukaha Mount Bruce where he has guided thousands of people around the reserve, sharing stories about the project to restore the Pukaha forest

He has also banded most of the nationally-vulnerable Caspian tern chicks at Onoke Spit on Wairarapa’s south coast, and talked about them on Radio New Zealand National’s Our Changing World programme.

Tennick Dennison, who has written about and photographed birds with Colin over many years, said he is also an “incredible” native plant propagator and keen gardener,.

Photographs taken by the pair during the 1970s are still on display at Henley Lake.

A retired Masterton pharmacist, Colin has involved himself with the Masterton South Rotary Club, Probus, the local camera club and the Blair Logie Writing Group. The Wairarapa branch of the Ornithological Society has acknowledged Colin with the Meritorious Award for services.

He has organised bird watching bus trips around Wairarapa and other parts of the country and has been involved with the search for and ongoing monitoring of the rare Chatham Island taiko.

He’s a “marvellous gentleman”, says DOC ranger Jenny Whyte, praising Colin for his work assisting the ongoing survival of native birds.

Colin will be missed on the Pukaha Mount Bruce Board and the National Wildlife Centre Trust but no doubt will be filling his evenings with other services to conservation in Wairarapa.

ENDS

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