Colin Ogle has been nominated for a Pride of New Zealand award in the environmental section. Photo/Stuart Munro
Colin Ogle has been nominated for a Pride of New Zealand award in the environmental section. Photo/Stuart Munro
Colin Ogle is Wanganui's go-to man on all things botanical and has dedicated years to the area's parks and bush.
Mr Ogle is instrumental in leading Friends of Gordon Park, a volunteer group that oversees the planting and protection of the park, while his knowledge of special plants and botanicalprotection work is also used by the Department of Conservation and councils in the area.
"Because I've been doing it for a number of years, people know I've got an historical perspective on things," he said.
Mr Ogle is a member of the Whanganui Museum Botanical Group and a member of Birds Wanganui. He also volunteers at Bushy Park and gives numerous talks to various groups, sharing his extensive knowledge.
In 2009 he donated the bulk of his private herbarium to Te Papa. Mr Ogle has also been awarded a lifetime achievement award from the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network.
He loves the work and plans to continue it as long as possible.
"I feel that you're leaving something for the future, something better than it is at present," he said. "Often it's protecting the last little remnants of what used to be here."
Mr Ogle originally trained as a science teacher, later becoming a scientist for the Wildlife Service before it merged with DoC. He acknowledged his wife Robyn, who is involved with his work as well. Mr Ogle has been nominated for an award in the environmental section.
