Stephensons take Loder Cup

Forest and Bird, Issue 267, 1 February 1993, Page 44

Stephensons take Loder Cup

EXECUTIVE MEMBER Gordon Stephenson and his wife Celia are the latest of a long list of Forest and Bird luminaries to be awarded the Loder Cup,

New Zealand’s premier conservation award. The Cup was presented by Conservation Minister Denis Marshall in October at a gathering in Waotu, the farming community in the South Waikato where the Stephensons live.

In outlining the couple’s impressive list of conservation achievements, Mr Marshall said that as immigrants from England in 1958, Gordon and Celia had brought a vision of farmers husbanding the land and resources they worked. They saw the values of the natural environment of the country they had arrived in, often in a clearer way than many locals, and they set out to farm with respect for the environment. Gordon developed the concept of protecting private land through covenants, served as Deputy Chairman of the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust, and was the first to covenant bush under the trust. He has been active on many public bodies, often bridging the gap between farmers and conservationists and is currently chairperson of the Waikato Conservation Board. His interest in the protection of New Zealand’s neglected wetlands led to his writing an important guide to these "shy places".