Treaty of Waitangi and kiwi hero recognised

Writer David Young will talk about the Treaty of Waitangi and conservation at Forest and Bird's 2004 Annual Conference. David will deliver the Sanderson Memorial lecture at 8.00pm Saturday 26 June Kingsgate Hotel 355 Willis Street.

The lecture will be preceded by the presentation of an international award to conservation hero Don Merton and Forest and Bird's 'Old Blue' awards that recognize conservation achievement in New Zealand. The awards will be presented between 7.00pm and 7.45pm.

Ornithologist Don Merton, who is a senior Technical Officer at the Department of Conservation, has led some of New Zealand's most courageous conservation efforts to bring back wildlife from the brink of extinction.

The award recognises Don Merton's work saving endangered birds in New Zealand and elsewhere, such as Mauritius and the Seychelles, in saving endangered birds. He is most well known for his efforts to save the endangered black robin that increased from a population of five birds to over 100. Old Blue, at one stage the only breeding female black robin, became a New Zealand icon.

The Conservation Achievement Award is awarded by BirdLife, a global network of over 100 non-governmental conservation organisations. It is awarded for outstanding international contributions to bird conservation. The New Zealand partner is Forest and Bird.

Notes:

David Young has recently completed a history of New Zealand conservation titled "Our islands, our selves," which will be published in November. A journalist for many years and former assistant editor of the Listener, David has also previously written a book on the Whanganui River: "Woven by water - Histories from the Whanganui River". He is a keen conservationist who has worked with a number of iwi over the years.

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