Forest & Bird Youth 2017-2023

It has been a big week! 

On Monday I ran my last event for Forest & Bird Youth (F&BY). With my birthday on Wednesday hitting the big 26 (:P) I have now officially aged-out of the 'youth' leadership space within Forest & Bird. 

F&BY has given me so much since the beginning in 2017. It has given me a platform to develop as a young leader, to plan large-scale and small events for the community, and to mentor younger leaders coming through into leadership positions... I think the best word I could use for all of that is EMPOWERMENT! F&BY is for-youth, by-youth; it's a platform that allows for young people to be given equal access to opportunities to authentically lead and participate. That is rare, and I will miss this for sure... but now I'm well on my own journey with The Seed Pod and that feels just as wonderful!

I thought I would share a glimpse into what these last 6yrs with F&BY have looked like for me... 

In 2015 I graduated highschool and was in the thick of scholarship applications for my University studies. I had decided to move to Wellington to attend Te Herenga Waka (Victoria University of Wellington) and study a Bachelor of Science, double majoring in Ecology & Biodiversity, and Environmental Studies (essentially the flora, fauna, and ecosystems here in Aotearoa as well as human connection with the environment globally). It was fortunate timing, that the same year I was heading to university to study ecology, Forest & Bird had re-launched their 

Forest and Bird Undergraduate Scholarship for one student studying at Victoria University who had chosen to study Ecology & Biodiversity. I will forever be in-debt to Forest & Bird for selecting me as that student. 

This started my re-engagement with Forest & Bird after I had been involved with the Kiwi Conservation club during my childhood. 

2017:

At the 2017 Forest & Bird Conference I joined the newly formed Forest & Bird National Team, taking on the National Co-Director role alongside Connor Wallace. Connor and I worked hard establishing and strengthening the National Leadership Team, organising regular meetings over zoom, leading discussions and learning opportunities, running national events, campaigns and competitions and planning in-person opportunities at hui/conferences.

In 2017 I not only joined Connor as Co-Director of Forest & Bird Youth, but I also committed to establishing and leading the Wellington Hub of Forest & Bird Youth. I utilised the skills that I had learnt from the Kiwi Forever programme, The Sir Peter Blake Trust Young Enviro Leaders Forum and the Kids Greening Taupō Student Leadership Team to create a new programme which brought together a youth council to lead local events for youth aged 14-25yrs. 

2018:

In 2018 this hub officially launched. I lead a council of 10x young leaders, and together we hosted a range of events within our first year of establishment. Our first event was called ‘Better Bird Feeding” where we had George Hobson give a talk on native birds and their food sources to raise awareness for incorrect bird-feeding habits locally. At this event we had a Q&A, played a fun game with lots of tasty treats involved, and had prizes too! 

We held a Tīkanga Hikoi around Wellington with guest Megan Somerville, working to build the local cultural competency of our hub leaders… we provided opportunities to propagate native seeds within the university, regularly took part in weeding events run by Wild Aro in a local gully near university, hosted social trips to Zealandia and the local Restoration Day gathering, and attended youth hui and the Forest & Bird Conference as part of the Youth delegation. 

But our biggest event was Ngā Here - Many Connections. This was our big environmental networking event held at university. We had over 100 participants, had guest speakers including Chloe Swarbrick (Green Party), Tamatha Paul (VUWSA) and Sean O’Brien (Good Nature). The purpose of the event was to enable students to engage with a range of professionals working in a variety of sectors relating to the environment. Our aim was to provide easy access to information about future careers and volunteering opportunities. We had speakers, interactive stalls from many different organisations, and free Krishna curry!

It was a big year, and right from the beginning I had been thinking about ways to ensure we had well-integrated succession planning in place. All of our leaders knew what we were about, were involved in running the events and networking and could easily run the events going forwards thanks to our regular and transparent planning meetings and communications between. 

2019-2023:

After Wellington I moved back to Taupō and supported hubs setting up across the country through my Co-Director role with Connor. I travelled to take part in events run by other hubs and attended national hui.

Mid-2019 I was humbled to receive the Forest & Bird Te Kaiārahi Rangatahi o te Taiao Youth Award for engaging young people in conservation.

Mid-2020 I officially stepped-down from my Co-Director role and graduated to a leader in the national team, then a Youth Advisor. In late 2022 I moved to Christchurch, and I joined the Christchurch Hub Leadership Team in 2023. In July 2023 I stepped down from the F&BY National Committee in the lead-up to ageing-out.

As part of the Christchurch F&BY Hub 2023, we have run monthly working bees at our local restoration site Mugford Reserve, coordinated and ran a community planting with candidates with over 50 participants, gone on a trip to Quail Island, attended talks and networking events, run a compost workshop, fauna pest monitoring event, and trap building in Arthur’s Pass.

It’s been a wonderful ride, and I am so thankful to have been able to work with such incredible young leaders as part of F&BY over the years! Although this journey as a young leader is coming to an end, I look forward to remaining involved as a participant and continuing to provide support and mentorship to youth as needed. A huge shout-out to Connor Wallace in particular for his hard work and dedication over the years to the Forest & Bird National team, as well as our Youth Support Coordinators, and to all those who have believed in the power of empowered and inspired youth taking action both on the ground and online. 

In Ngā mihi nui Forest & Bird Youth!