East Coast conservationist Graeme Atkins is among the three finalists in the Environmental Hero category at this year’s New Zealander of the Year Awards. Winners are to be announced at a gala dinner in Auckland on March 27.
Picture by Diana Dobson/Black Balloon
East Coast conservationist Graeme Atkins has been named one of three finalists in the 2024 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards.
He is in the Ministry for the Environment Environmental Hero of the Year category, which recognises a person or group who have made a remarkable contribution to restoring
the environment and/or protecting our unique species.
In his profile on the New Zealander of the Year Awards website, Mr Atkins (Ngāti Porou and Rongomaiwahine) is described as “a living embodiment of kaitiakitanga, whose significant contribution to flora conversation extends well beyond his decades of employment as a Department of Conservation ranger”.
Referred to as the “Maori David Attenborough of plants” in the conservation community, Graeme “has demonstrated sustained excellence in botanical discovery and played a pivotal role in protecting many rare plants such as ngutukākā (kakabeak, Clianthus maximus), mikokoi (native iris, Libertia cranwelliae), and putiputi o te ao pouri (Dactylanthus tailorii)”.
He founded the Tairāwhiti Ngutukākā conservation group which took on the work of replanting and protecting ngutukākā (kakabeak) plants around Tairāwhiti.
