Steve Sawyer Robyn Wilkie
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Patsy Matthews
Patsy is from Gisborne and has been involved with the horticultural industry for a number of years. She has a passion for conservation and restoring indigenous habitats which are under threat from weeds and pests. Patsy is an extremely capable operator, she has completed the Tairawhiti Polytechnic Conservation Corp training course. Patsy has been involved with all Ecoworks projects. She established the Australasian gannet colony at Young Nicks Head, has been involved with monitoring and banding grey-faced petrels, tracking and surveying brown kiwi, rodent density monitoring, threatened species and veg survey, setting up vertebrate pest control projects and managing a wide range of difficult invasive weed control projects. Patsy has also trained a number of dogs which are now used on threatened species projects throughout New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
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Robyn has had a wide range of experience in the conservation field. Robyn started with the Department of Conservation on the Chatham Islands in 1995 working on the Chatham Island oystercatcher project. Robyn has also been involved with the Mangere Island planting project, creating habitat for the endangered black robin.
Robyn has been involved with radio telemetry monitoring, banding, rodent indexing and predator control as part of the North Island weka project. During 2000 the Department of Conservation employed Robyn to establish weed monitoring and surveillance programmes at a number of sites in the Gisborne Region and coordinate the 'Weedbusters' project in the East Coast/Hawke’s Bay Regions during 2003. Robyn was also employed on contract by the Department of Conservation to set up the Pest-Link Vertebrate Pest Control Database for the Hawke’s Bay-East Coast and Bay of Plenty Conservancies. She has also contracted to Fish and Game NZ to undertake extensive wetland survey work within the Eastern Region. Robyn has been a founding member of the Whinray Ecological Charitable Trust (W.E.C.T). In 2006 Robyn received a Diploma in Horticulture from Massey University after studying extramurally.
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Graeme is from Gisborne also. After farming in the Motu area for many years he has moved to Gisborne and is now a key member of the Ecoworks team. He has coordinated the Longbush Predator Fence build and can turn his hand to almost anything! and do it extremely well. He is also a keen hunter, fisherman and apiarist.
Delia has recently started fulltime with the Ecoworks Team. Up until now she has managed the daily dog training and husbandry.
Delia is from Gisborne and has a passion for wildlife and the outdoors. She is involved with all aspects of the Ecoworks workload while still managing the daily detection dog training project.
Steve has over 20 years experience managing threatened species, invasive weeds, vertebrate pests, endangered plants and restoring habitats for the New Zealand Wildlife Service and the Department of Conservation.
Steve started with the New Zealand Wildlife Service in 1987 at the age of 17 and later worked for the Department of Conservation at Mt Bruce, in Hawkes Bay, on the Chatham Islands for five years, Motu and Gisborne as a Biodiversity Ranger and then Programme Manager until 2003 when he established Ecoworks NZ Ltd.
Steve has worked in many of New Zealand's wilderness areas including Fiordland, Coromandel's offshore islands, Murchison, Ruahine, Raukumara, Hurunui and Kaweka Ranges, Little Barrier, Tongariro, Te Urewera, the Chatham's including many trips to South-East, Mangere, the Sisters and Forty-Fours Islands to work with a wide range of species such as the Chatham Island black robin, royal albatross, tuatara, taiko, North Island brown and great spotted kiwi, tokoeka, blue duck, shore plover, parea, Buller's mollymawk, kokako, kakapo, Deuvacel's gecko and many more.
Steve and Robyn established the Whinray Eco Trust during 2000. Steve coordinates the Kiwi Recovery Programme in the Gisborne-East Coast Region writing funding applications, surveying and catching kiwi and coordinating the Operation Nest Egg side of the project.
Steve is a Trustee on the Longbush Ecological Trust Board and is currently involved in a wide range of projects and species conservation programmes throughout New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
