April 22, 2022
More room for Māori in Forest and Bird
New Forest & Bird chief executive Nicola Toki is keen to see how the organisation can work more closely with Māori.
Ms Toki replaces Kevin Hague and was the Department of Conservation’s director of operations for eastern South Island and its threatened species ambassador.
She says with Te Reo o te Taiao is unusual as an environmental organisation because it has boots on the ground in the form of 47 branches and thousands of volunteers prepared to plant trees or trap pests.
“That at place restoration and conservation is something I believe, and I know mana whenua want to engage in as well, so my view is Forest & Bird needs to find a better way for us to share that because we want the same stuff, most of the time,” Ms Toki says.
Forest & Bird is coming into its 100th year, but tangata whenua have been kaitiaki in Aotearoa for almost 800 years.