The spring issue is dedicated to celebrating Aotearoa New Zealand’s unsung conservation heroes – the volunteers who make our nature restoration projects hum. Over the past six months, 26 writers and artists were randomly paired up and assigned a Forest & Bird nature sanctuary to visit. Each artist/writer pair was asked to create an original artwork, centena poem, and essay inspired by their experiences. You can read all about the 26 Forest & Bird Centennial project and the first five projects in your spring issue. This issue also profiles the eight winners of Forest & Bird’s prestigious annual conservation awards, including Distinguished Life Member, Old Blue, Te Kōtuku and Te Kaiārahi o te Taiao. Sometimes a small personal action can have a big impact as Jill Visser discovered when she decided to do something to mitigate climate change. One thing led to another and she ended up managing a group of volunteers who are busy turning a former wetland on the Kāpiti Coast into a carbon-capturing “sponge city”. Warning: This story may inspire you! We also look at the role children and young people have played in conservation over the past 100 years in the first of a two-part feature. Our centennial-themed coverage continues with letters to the future from two passionate conservationists – Forest & Bird’s founder Val Sanderson and our climate advocate George Hobson, aged 19. He hopes the next New Zealand government and its political leaders will take meaningful action to heal the planet before it’s too late. Meanwhile the nation’s favourite annual poll is back with a vengeance with the launch of Bird of the Century – will an extinct species such as huia take the top perch this year? All this and much more including sea dragons, spiders, kākāpō, a Court of Appeal win, Rakiura rambles, bird prey diets, busting rat myths, Westland petrel mining threat, Kermadecs, and the night a rare tusked wētā came calling...
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