As part of our Centennial Celebrations, Forest & Bird launched ‘Conservation Heroes’ - an initiative that ran from June 2023 through to February 2024.
Anyone could nominate friends, whānau, community members, or anyone who inspires them to be a kaitiaki guardian for nature. People nominated their conservation hero through an online form and provided a short description about their hero’s work and how they make a difference.
There were no restrictions on nominations. It could be someone who had a rat trap in their backyard, a young climate campaigner, or a conservation volunteer who’s planted native trees for decades. Everything we do to help nature counts - and it all adds up.
Forest & Bird is proud to share these stories to inspire others.
More than 30 conservation heroes were nominated as part of the centennial celebrations – with limited space we could only showcase a handful here.
We congratulate all conservation heroes, those nominated and for all those heroes who work so hard for the love of nature.
Ella Walmsley
Ella is one of the most passionate environmental educators around! She is in her element when working with students, adventuring in the outdoors, and providing opportunities for other young leaders. The best part about Ella's work is her ability to engage students in learning through fun activities and games which she creates. She is an inspiring leader in this field with many years of experience under her belt, despite her age! You can find Ella taking people out for their first snorkelling experience, running programmes and projects in freshwater education, monitoring streams, spotlighting fish, volunteering for F&B Youth and coaching mountain biking.
Nominated by: Sian Crowley
Spencer Potbury
Spencer is a dedicated advocate for the wonderful critters found in streams and rivers, especially macro-invertebrates! He is a self-confessed water-bug connoisseur and will gladly take any opportunity to share his love and passion for these little-known creatures with anyone he can. He has been actively involved in environmental education and restoration for a number of years and was an epic leader as part of Forest & Bird Youth Team in Auckland.
Nominated by: Sian Crowley
Te Huia Wesling Macgregor
Huia has been a passionate conservationist since she started getting the F&B Kiwi Conservation Club magazines as a child. Ever since, she has been actively involved in various conservation projects and groups, starting to volunteer as a youth ambassador at Zealandia from the age of 12. "I'm really grateful to all the people who took a chance on a little child who just wanted to hang out with the birds and be outside," she says. Her goal is to use her passion for the outdoors to inspire other young people to get involved with nature.
Huia was one of four Kaitiaki to feature in F&B's centennial speaker series webinar that helped launch the Conservation Heroes project. She is now travelling in Great Britain, lending a hand on various conservation projects and continuing to share her love of nature.
Nominated by: Helen Ward
Maureen Miles
Maureen is 94 and lives in Christchurch. A member of Forest and Bird for many years, Maureen was also the secretary for the Hawea/Otago branch. Through her care and passion for nature, she has inspired many generations of her family to value the natural environment. In her late 60s and 70s she would take family members on multi day tramps, sharing her knowledge of the natural world. She has always planted native trees and shrubs in the garden, showing her passion to help our native flora thrive, whether that be out in the bush or in the suburbs. Most notably, she has taught her large whānau about the importance of protecting Te Taiao nature.
Nominated by: Susan Miles
Siobain Finlow-Bates
Siobain leads a life with nature at the centre. Her energy and enthusiasm for conservation is evident in her many achievements.
Siobain works in the Biodiversity section of the Department of Conservation Picton office and organises logistics with a number of offshore islands. She is often on call, and regularly helps injured animals towards re-release. Prior to this position, Siobain contributed significantly to Picton Dawn Chorus's success
She also holds the position of Treasurer at the Marlborough Sounds Restoration Trust, Trustee on the EnviroHub Board, and attends many conservation events.
On our restoration project at Wild Waikawa, Siobain's conservation contribution has been invaluable including sharing knowledge and time on pest control, trapping, wilding pine control, bat monitoring, searching for special beetles, working alongside Iwi to GPS track Pupu rangi giant snails and GPS tracking of nationally vulnerable Wainuia nasuta snails, releasing Kereru back into the wild - all in a volunteer capacity outside of work. Siobain's enthusiasm to improve high value biodiversity areas is second to none. She has a rich conservation life which is inspiring and appreciated.
Nominated by: Michelle Clark & Nigel Muir