A powerhouse for conservation in South Canterbury for more than 35 years, Ines Stager, of Geraldine, has been awarded a Distinguished Life Membership — the highest honour Forest & Bird bestows on its members.
Forest & Bird deputy president and chair of its awards committee Mark Hanger said Ms Stager was a passionate and formidable advocate for nature, spending decades fighting to protect native habitats in South Canterbury, including Te Manahuna Mackenzie Basin.
She shared her infectious love of te taiao in her long-running “Voice for Nature” conservation column in the The Courier.
“Leader, visionary, advocate, newspaper columnist, weed buster, tree planter, protector of long-tailed bats, enemy of wallabies, and foundation member of the South Canterbury Conservation Trust, Ines has made an undeniable difference to the region’s biodiversity,” Mr Hanger said.
Distinguished Life Membership, established in 1980, recognises exceptional long-term service in advancing conservation and Forest & Bird’s objectives, particularly at national level.
Ms Stager and her partner Peter arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand from Switzerland in 1981 and moved to Geraldine the following year, where she worked as a landscape architect for the New Zealand Forest Service before joining Di Lucas, founding director of Lucas Associates.
When remnant populations of pekapeka-tou-roa long-tailed bats were found in South Canterbury in the 1990s, Ms Stager worked to protect their habitat, install bat boxes, expand monitoring and raise the profile of these tiny mammals through media articles, public meetings and community events.
Mr Hanger said that today, Geraldine was one of the few towns in New Zealand where residents and visitors could see native bats flying in the wild — emerging at dusk from giant matā and tōtara in the Talbot Forest.
As a founding member of the Talbot Forest Working Group, Ms Stager played a central role in making it a safe home for long-tailed bats and still co-ordinated monthly working bees in the scenic reserve.
One of her most significant recent achievements was the protection of Arowhenua Bush — the last remnant of tall forest on the lower plains of South Canterbury.
Thanks to Ms Stager’s advocacy and the generosity of local members, Forest & Bird bought the land in 2023 and protected it with a QEII covenant, Mr Hanger said.
Ms Stager said the mahi (work) undertaken was only possible through the support of many people around her, and was inspired by many others before her.
“Ka tōhatoha tātou i te ao whenua, he kaitiaki noa tātou mōnga whakatipuranga kei te heke mai — we share planet Earth, we are simply caretakers for future generations.
“Young people appreciate nature and what it has to offer. Their inquisitive minds are inspirational.”
Together with her partner, Ms Stager led Forest & Bird’s South Canterbury Kiwi Conservation Club for the first 10 years of its existence, inspiring a generation of young conservationists in the region.
She also served on the Forest & Bird board for about a decade across two terms and was the organisation’s representative on the Loder Cup Committee for several years until 2023.
She brought her governance skills and conservation knowledge to the Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board, New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects, and the Biosecurity Advisory Group Southern Region.
She has been a member of the South Canterbury Conservation Trust for 30 years and is also a member of the Canterbury Botanical Society.
“Ines brought her trademark determination, deep practical knowledge of conservation, and her sense of humour wherever she went,” Mr Hanger said.
“She understood the issues facing branches on the ground in a way that made her an invaluable voice at governance level. South Canterbury’s environment is richer for her three and a half decades of unstinting mahi.” — Allied Media
