Trustee Introductions Continued

We welcome Jane Marshall to the Endangered Species Foundation.

As she says:

"As a native born West Coaster I was lucky enough to experience the vast tracts of forests and stunning coastlines as a regular part of my formative years and for over 45 years now I have lived and traveled in the South Island.  My earliest interests in animals evolved over the years of work experience as a teenager at Orana Park and holidays to countries with exotic flowering plants, through my tertiary education which began in zoology and ended in botany.  During my years at the universities in Canterbury and Otago I met inspirational people who were and are actively involved in the often hard work of conserving New Zealand's unique species and wilderness spaces and these people have effectively guided my own journey into the world of biodiversity conservation.  

Having been involved in conservation efforts in New Zealand, it is clear to me that as a country we desperately need to expand the amount of species conservation work that is occurring here in order to stop the tragic losses of our vulnerable flora and fauna.  The Endangered Species Foundation of New Zealand presents a new opportunity to increase the likelihood of survival of our treasured species, and as a corollary, the spectacular places they live in."

Jane doing what she likes best - in the sun, eating fruit, on a mountain, surrounded by tussock

Jane currently works on the coalface of conservation with the Department of Conservation in Hokitika. She is a past President of the Otago branch of Forest and Bird and is involved with many other community conservation groups.

And Introducing

Working my way through our talented group of Trustees I would like to introduce Neil Thorsen - one of the powerhouses behind the early work of setting up the Endangered Species Foundation

Neil has held management roles with NZ Guardian Trust from 1968 to 1995 and has been Managing Director of Thorsen Gempton Consulting Ltd since 1996. Neil was instrumental in establishing the Wellington Region Community Foundation (now called the Nikau Foundation) and the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary Trust (now Zealandia). He chaired the New Zealand Association of Philanthropic Trusts (now Philanthropy New Zealand) for 5 years and has attended two US Council on Foundations conferences, in Washington and Puerto Rico.

Neil discussing the ESF with Tony Ryall MP

In Neil's words:

"I guess I was born to be a conservationist having a farmer for a father. I have been involved with the establishment of many charitable trusts and foundations during a lengthy career as a trustee consultant. The establishment of ESF, and being a trustee, has given me the most satisfaction, as I see it as being a foundation for the challenging times ahead, facing a growing list of endangered species.  I am prepared, in a very small way, to take up the late Professor Sir Paul Callaghan’s vision that this country could eventually become predator free.

Tao said almost 2,000 years ago:   

 “A tree that reaches past your embrace grows from one small seed.

A structure over nine stories high begins with a handful of earth.

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.”

This is why I see ESF as having the vision, capacity and drive to, at least, try to implement Sir Paul Callaghan’s dream that New Zealand should become predator free; thus protecting our endangered species. Conservationists have already taken many small steps. Let us increase the pace."

We Are Lucky To Welcome...

Continuing our thread of introducing the people that have graciously agreed to acting as Trustees for the Endangered Species Foundation I'd like to welcome another two of our trustees: Kerry Prendergast and Dame Cheryll Sotheran.

Image from Soda Inc.

Dame Cheryll Sotheran DNZM is the Strategic Director, Business Solutions, for NZ Trade and Enterprise in the innovative soda inc. She was the founding Chief Executive of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa from 1993-2002. Dame Cheryll received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Auckland in 1999 and, in 1998, she was made Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (bio from Wikipedia and soda)

 

Kerry Prendergast chairs Tourism NZ and the newly formed Crown Entity, the Environmental Protection Agency. In addition to these she is Executive Chair of the NZ International Festival of the Arts, chairs Wellington Regional Netball, is on the boards of Kirkaldie and Stains Ltd, the Wellington Phoenix Football Club and the NZ Community Trust, on an Advisory Board to the Auditor General and Local Government Efficiency Taskforce. Kerry completed her third term as Mayor of Wellington in October 2010. Previously, She served as Deputy Mayor from 1995 to 2001. She has an MBA from Victoria University (2003).  Before her career in local government, Kerry had a professional background in the health sector (as a registered nurse and then as a registered midwife for 25 years). Kerry was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2011. She also has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, the Medal of the Order of Bernardo O’Higgins – Grand Cross, a Paul Harris Fellow (Rotary) and a Distinguished Alumni of Victoria University

Both these very accomplished people deserve a huge vote of thanks for agreeing to support the Endangered Species Foundation of NZ.

Introducing ...

We have been making steady progress on establishing the Endangered Species Foundation, the trust deed is in the final throes of preparation and we have nearly a full complement of trustees. Over the next few posts we'll introduce the trustees and let them say in their own words why they are involved.

All these people have been successful in their chosen career and are very very busy. We are extremely greatful that they have agreed to devote some time to the Endangered Species Foundation. They all bring different skills and attributes to the trust board and we look forward to working together to make the Endangered Species Foundation New Zealand's pre-eminent conservation fund!

On to the first trustee - Richard Dore of Wellington:

Richard has over 20 years experience dealing with policy and economic analysis of significant New Zealand assets in the public and private sector. His key skills are strategy and commercial economic analysis, business case development, company valuation, and programme management.  This experience has included the following roles and assignments: Senior Economist at the Commerce Commission, Acting Director of Strategy at NZ Trade & Enterprise, Economist for the development of the National Bovine Tuberculosis Pest

Management Strategy managed by the Animal Health Board and Senior Analyst roles at NZ Post,Telecom, NZ Treasury and Ministry of Commerce. Richard has an Honours Degree in Economics and a Certificate of Investment Analysis.  He is currently contracted to the Strategy Group of New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, and is a director of two small companies.

Richard says "as a passionate New Zealander I see the ESF as a great opportunity to not only protect the ‘rarest of the rare’ in NZ but also raise awareness in local communities about those species.  On my travels around NZ over the last 25 years I have seen the benefit of New Zealanders becoming more aware

about the need to protect and in many cases rehabilitate the environment that we live in.  However in many of these places the challenges remain and in many other parts of NZ the challenges have grown.  The unique species that live in these places are a key part of this environment and the ESF gives me the chance to make a real difference through both raising awareness and protection of species".

Guiding Principles and Good News!

We have some very good news! Since our meeting with the Minister we have been busy with the principles that will guide the Endangered Species Foundation's work (see below). These need to be incorporated into a legal Tust Deed that will define what work the Foundation supports and how. Our good news is that David Ireland, a partner in Kensington Swan Lawyers in Wellingon, has generously agreed to draft this deed pro bono. Thanks David! Kensington Swan Lawyers are the first in what we hope are a dynamic group of businesses that are supporting the Foundation.

David Ireland of Kensington Swan Lawyers

 Our guiding principles that we have developed so far are:

1. support the active conservation of New Zealand’s unique places, plants and animal life, particularly for those species that are at risk of extinction;
2. prevent further extinctions by implementing world-leading  efficient and effective management programmes for those species in imminent risk of extinction (the “rarest of the rare”);
3. support research that provides conservation managers with tools that can be used to redress the causes of rarity in New Zealand biota;
4.  to assist and cooperate with persons and organisations sharing similar aims;
5.  to facilitate the hands-on involvement of local communities in these objects;
6.  to not be a replacement for existing work being carried out by other persons and organisations; 
7.  to provide an avenue for individuals and organisations to financially support the objects of the Foundation;
8. to appropriately acknowledge contributors to the Foundation;
9.  to remain apolitical and non-aligned with any political or non-governmental organisation;
10. to be financially self-supporting by raising capital and using the income to support the objects above

 What do you think?? These are drafts and we need feedback to make these as robust as possible

 Next on our list of actions is to approach some very talented people that might be willing to act as Founders or Trustees of the Endangered Species Foundation of New Zealand. Watch this blog!


A sad note in the world of New Zealand conservation was the recent death of Peter Mckenzie who founded the Nga Manu Nature Reserve near Waikanae in 1974 to protect a lowland forest remnant. Since then, the sanctuary grew and was involved in breeding programmes for endangered tuatara, kiwi and brown teal (among others).

Peter McKenzie with hatchling tuatara. Photo: Phil Reid/stuff.co.nz

Meeting The Minister Of Conservation

We've been working on the structure of the conservation fund. One of the important attributes of the fund is that it needs charitable status. There's lots of reasons for this - many people and organisations feel more comfortable giving to such an institution, and there are seriously good tax breaks for those that do donate (they get 33% back, to the limit of annual income - how good is that??!)

So we went to one of the best in the business at starting up charitable trusts. Neil Thorsen, of Thorsen Gempton Consulting, was a key figure in the inital establishment of the Karori Sanctuary (now Zealandia) and the Wellington Region Community Foundation (now Nikau Foundation) as well as managing many large bequests and other trusts.He also happens to be Mike's father, and it was his comment many years ago that "it would be easy to set up a $1 million conservation trust" that was part of the impetus behind the beginning of this conservation foundation. He was enthusiastic about the idea. Very enthusiastic. So enthusiastic that he talked with various business interests about the conservation foundation during his holiday in Nelson!!

So now we have the beginnings of our charitable trust - more about this soon.

If we're serious in our target of $20m it means gaining serious political and financial support. So we went to our local MP, Tony Ryall. His comment that sums it all up was "why hasn't anyone done this before now?". He was also surprised that for some species as little as $500 could make a difference to their security. He was very supportive and we got through a lot in our 15 minute time slot. Tony is now organising for us to meet the Minister of Conservation and the Minister of the Environment to pitch our idea. We also plan on tapping them for some money - but they don't know that yet!

Neil Thorsen (left) discusses with MP Tony Ryall a recent NZ Herald article on New Zeland's 10 most endangered species (click here for article)

An Idea Becomes?

We would like to see what support people have for an idea...

In New Zealand the number of species considered by the Department of Conservation as at risk from extinction increased by nearly 200 over the past five years. There are now nearly 4,000 plants, birds, insects, fish, mammals, reptiles, lichens, fungi, etc at risk of extinction in New Zealand. 

Of these 4,000, over 800 species are in imminent danger. The Department of Conservation has only enough resources to actively manage (to varying degrees) just a 1/4 of these. Other organisations and individuals play a critical role in the conservation of some of the others.

There are not enough resources (primarily money) to address the problem.

So here's the idea: Create a $20 million NZ conservation fund

Simple really. But how?

This is where you come in. We need evidence of support that we can take to those in power and those that hold the purse strings that people really like this idea. We need LOTS of evidence.

Visit this blog, comment on it, add your views - and get your friends to do the same!

On this blog we'll post ideas and news on the progress that is made. We'll also post articles on New Zealand's endangered species and the people who are dedicated to their survival and any other interesting and useful bits we come across.

What do you think?

The black robin. An example of what can be done. Once only five birds existed, now the population is limited by space to just under 200 birds