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Local woman wins conservation award
Local woman Helen Lindsay, who oversees planting projects in the Abel Tasman National Park and Otuwhero wetland, has been recognised with a prestigious national conservation award.
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Helen is the Restoration Supervisor for Project Janszoon, the conservation trust working with the Department of Conservation in the Abel Tasman and also works with a community group doing restoration work in the Otuwhero wetland near Marahau. She has been awarded the prestigious New Zealand Plant Conservation Network individual award for her conservation and restoration work.
The NZ Plant Conservation Network says she was nominated in recognition of her outstanding contributions to native plant conservation in New Zealand.
Project Janszoon Director Bruce Vander
Lee says Helen thoroughly deserves the recognition and he sees her as a quiet ecological warrior. “Helen is hugely experienced and we are lucky to have her as part of the Project Janszoon team. She is always sharing her knowledge with others and her enthusiasm for all the projects she works on inspires others to get involved,” he says.
Hardly surprisingly Helen was keen to acknowledge others’ work when accepting the award. “Anything that I have achieved in conservation has been with a lot of help from others. It is a privilege to work with so many people dedicated to helping preserve our natural treasures,” says Helen. A native of Dublin, Helen started her first job in New Zealand working for
Greenpeace, the year after the Rainbow Warrior was bombed. She then re-trained in sustainable land management, specialising in ecological restoration.
Helen has worked on all the Department of Conservation administered islands in the Hauraki Gulf and on Lord Howe Island in Australia. She has been in charge of restoration planting and weed control on Motuora Island in the Hauraki Gulf since 1998 with the Motuora Restoration Society. She moved to Motueka in 2009 and as well as her work in the Abel Tasman and Otuwhero wetland she is also a trustee of the Native Forest Restoration Trust, a national organisation which purchases and manages land for conservation purposes.
