Conservationist Receives High Royal Honour

Forest and Bird, Issue 300, 1 May 2001, Page 5

Conservationist Receives High Royal Honour

former national president of Forest and Bird, Prof Alan Mark, has been made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit — the equivalent of a knighthood in the new honours system. He has previously been made a CBE (in 1988), and his peers and colleagues have also recognised his stature, electing him a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 1978, and awarding him the Society’s prestigious Hutton Medal in 1997 ‘for botanical research’. The DCNZM is the highest award ever made for services to conservation in New Zealand. ‘For me the greatest satisfaction is to have conservation based on sound science accepted as such a worthy cause, he says. ‘It’s far from plain sailing and there are plenty of brickbats along the way, even if the case is scientifically credible. T’ve tried to keep all my campaigns and personal involvement in campaigns scientific, says the man once dubbed the ‘professor of political botany’ for his effectiveness as a scientific advocate for conservation. He is now an Emeritus Professor of Otago University, having retired from his personal chair in 1998. He maintains an active involvement in research as chairman of the board of governors of the Miss E.L. Hellaby Indigenous Grasslands Research Trust, and continues writing (adding to the 150 or so scientific papers already published) and working on his beloved central Otago and Fiordland mountain ranges. Alan Mark first rose to national prominence with the campaign to save Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau from damage by hydroelectric development. Lake Monowai had already been flooded, and dead trees still clog the shores of that lost lake. When agreement was reached to maintain the natural levels of the lakes, Alan Mark became the first chairman of the Guardians of Manapouri and Te Anau, an appointment he

held for 26 years. He has served on the Otago Catchment Board (1974-86), the Land Settlement Board (1984-86), and the Mountain Lands Committee from 1989 until it was dissolved in 1993; positions which gave him many opportunities for advocating sustainable management and the natural values of the land. Alan Mark was born and educated in Otago but earned his doctorate through a Fulbright grant at Duke University in North Carolina, graduating with a prestigious Phi Beta Kappa in 1958. He was a founding ‘advisory’ member

of the Native Forests Action Council and joined Forest and Bird during the late 1970s, at a time when the Society was growing in activism for the absolute protection of all native forests. He also initiated, with the then conservation director Dr Gerry McSweeney, the redirection of the Society’s activities into the conservation of non-forest ecosystems, particularly tussock grasslands and wetlands, where significant conservation gains have since been made. He served on the national executive from 1982-1998 and was national president from 1985-1990. In academic circles Alan Mark is well-known as an advocate of

ecology. He has studied the southern beech forests and grasslands both here and in other remnants of the ancient continent known as Gondwana. He has also written a standard work on the plants of the highcountry, New Zealand Alpine Plants (with Nancy M. Adams). The award of the Loder Cup in 1975 recognised his work in the conservation of New Zealand flora. ‘Hopefully this award will encourage a few more ecologists into the frontline of conservation, Alan Mark says. ‘We could certainly do with some reinforcement.

Alan Mark is still active in conservation, being chairman of the Dunedin branch of Forest and Bird, and also a member of the Otago Conservation Board. His service there over the past 10 years, included a seven-year term as chair of the board. Previously he was Forest and Bird’s statutory nominee to the National Parks and Reserves Authority (precursor of the Conservation Authority) all through the 1980s. His wife Patricia, also involved in conservation, was honoured by the Queen last year when she was made a QSO in recognition of her community services, particularly to health boards in Otago and the Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust.