Forest and Bird honours Kathy Gilbert with prestigious Old Blue award for exceptional service to conservation
On Sunday 30 July, Paramata Lodge’s delightful host, Kathy, achieved the prestigious Old Blue award from Forest and Bird for exceptional service to conservation and to the organisation’s West Coast branch which she chaired for 15 years.
Kathy said the West Coast was an amazing place and she was proud to have worked with other branch members and Forest & Bird staff to protect its natural treasures.
“There is so much at stake here in the West Coast environment that is also important for all of Aotearoa New Zealand,” she said.
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Kathy first became involved with Forest & Bird when she started a group which joined forces with Forest & Bird and the Department of Conservation to protect Shearer Swamp near the property where she and her partner live.
The legal battle took over nine years but led to stronger protections for wetlands on the West Coast. During that time Kathy realised she shared the objectives and philosophy of Forest & Bird and became involved in the branch.
“I believe this is a wonderful organisation with great strength and a clarity of focus,” she said.
The West Coast branch covers more than 500km from one end to the other and there has been no lack of controversial development issues for Kathy to keep on top of. These include mining on the Denniston Plateau, where Forest & Bird held a bioblitz in 2012 to highlight the unique ecology, and last year’s review of the Department of Conservation’s stewardship land.
Forest & Bird’s Regional Conservation Manager for Canterbury and the West Coast, Nicky Snoyink, said Kathy had done an amazing job as branch chair over the last 15 years.
“I think Kathy’s superpower is bringing people together and keeping them together. She’s got a very good handle on the environmental and political situation on the Coast,” Nicky said.
She added that Kathy had done an outstanding job in bringing all branch members together with their local knowledge to help Forest & Bird respond to the stewardship land review.
Kathy said she knew it was time to pass the reins of the chair to someone else and was looking forward to spending more time watching the sun set through the canopy of kahikatea trees on her property.
Kathy was presented with her Old Blue at Forest & Bird’s centenary conference in Wellington on Saturday (July 29). The Old Blue is awarded by New Zealand’s largest independent conservation organisation to people who have made an outstanding contribution to Forest & Bird or the organisation’s conservation goals.
The award commemorates the last breeding female black robin which, thanks to work led by pioneering conservationist Don Merton, saved her species from extinction in the 1980s.
Read about other distinguished award recipients here.
