Introducing The Last Of Our Trustees

Finishing our introductions of trustees we have Emeritus Professor Sir Alan Mark and Richard Allen:

Richard has been in private legal practice in Wellington for the last 18 years and has worked in both large and small firms. He now runs his own practice with an emphasis on property transactions, trust and asset planning and small business matters. He has wide experience in trust administration, including three years at a statutory trustee company prior to entering into private legal practice. Richard is very interested in protecting New Zealand's natural resources and recognises the need for sustainable conservation. He and his family have supported various charities in this area, over the years.

Alan with some of his beloved alpine tussock grasses

Alan has had a lifetime interest and involvement in conserving our indigenous plants and ecosystems. As a professional plant ecologist based at the University of Otago, he has been involved, with support from the Hellaby Indigenous Grasslands Research Trust, researching the pure and applied ecology of the upland snow tussock grasslands and associated mountain lands, aimed at their sustainable management. Alan has been an untiring advocate for conservation of the high country’s biodiversity and importance for baseline research and ecosystem services, particularly the very high water yields from its upland snow tussocklands which he has researched. In addition to high country conservation, he accepted a 1969 invitation by the Government to assess the likely environmental impacts of the proposed raising of Fiordland’s Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau, and later was appointed Chair of the Lake Guardians to apply this research to sustainable lake management. His research efforts, with about 190 scientific papers published, as well as contributions to the ecological understanding and conservation of our indigenous ecosystems, have been recognised with various awards and honours, including a Fellowship of the Royal Society of New Zealand, the Society’s Hutton Medal and Fleming Environmental Award, the Loder Cup, and the inaugural Awards of New Zealand 1994. Alan has also received a Distinguished Life Membership of the Forest and Bird Protection Society, Life Membership of the N.Z Ecological Society and the Ecological Society of America and Honorary Membership of the N.Z. Alpine Club, as well as a CBE (1989) and KNZM (2009), for contributions to scientifically-based conservation in New Zealand. 

So we are  very lucky with the range and experience of our trustees. Our next step is signing the Trust Deed. This is scheduled for 25th of January. After that, it's all on!