Stewart Island rep for board

For the first time in several years, the Stewart Island community has a representative on the Southland Conservation Board.

Shona Sangster, of Stewart Island, Claire Jordan, of Tuatapere, and Estelle Leask, of Bluff, have been appointed to the Southland Conservation Board.

Sangster is a volunteer and former administrator of the Stewart Island/Rakiura Community Environment Trust.

She was also a community representative on the Southland Aquaculture Reference Group.

Jordan is an environmental scientist and planner who has worked for consultants Tonkin and Taylor, the Ministry for the Environment, the Environmental Protection Agency and Environment Southland.

Leask, who was a nominee of Te Ru¯nanga o Nga¯i Tahu, felt privileged and excited to be selected by both Ngai Tahu and the Minister of Conservation for the position.

Leask works Senior Environmental Advisor for Nga¯i Tahu and a is a member of Te Ru¯ nanga o Awarua in Bluff.

She took on the role only two weeks ago having completed a degree of environmental management at the Southern Institute of Technology last year.

Leask is also a trustee on the Whenua Hou Komiti and chairperson for the Bluff Hill Motupo¯ hue Environment Trust, since 2008.

From a young age she was connected with the environment spending a lot of time gathering food with her father on the coasts and in the forests, Leask said.

The importance of being a kaitiaki or guardian of the environment was something that was very much ingrained in her, she said.

What concerned Leask the most about the current state of conservation was the decline of so many native species with many on the brink of extinction.

There needed to be a great focus from both local and central government on the Predator Free 2050 initiative, Leask said.

Leask was also concerned about the proliferation of singleuse plastics, which she had plenty of experience with through coastal clean-ups that the Bluff Hill Trust was involved in.

Leask is the replacement for previous Nga¯ i Tahu representative Gail Thompson.

The Southland Conservation Board has the big task this year of taking part in the Fiordland National Park Management Plan review that sets out how the park will be managed for the next decade.

Out of 280 applications, 57 people were selected to go on to the 15 board throughout the country, and more than half are women.

Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage announced the appointments for the 15 boards throughout the country this month.

The appointments took effect from July 1.