People Helping Nature Podcast

Is Predator Free 2050 achievable?

Is it possible to remove possums, rats and stoats from 100,000+ hectares of mainland New Zealand, and keep them out, without a fence?

When ZIP began working in South Westland, this was unchartered territory: even the team wasn’t sure. But the local community agreed that it was worth a go.

Starting with a trial in the remote Perth Valley, they worked across the landscape block by block. Some river boundaries helped keep predators out. Others were so leaky that dealing with returning animals made it hard to move on.

After 20 years leading Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo, Karen Fifield is preparing to step down as Chief Executive.

So we sat down with her to ask a simple question: What has a lifetime in zoos taught her?

Her answer reaches far beyond the animals that visitors see. It’s about conservation, technology, ethics, diversity in the workplace, animal welfare, storytelling, and learning to share the planet with other living beings.

Karen reflects on what animals have taught her about authenticity, why good zoos must be built around care and trust, and why facts alone ra...

One day, hearing kiwi call from your backyard could be normal again.

To many New Zealanders, kiwi are our national icon - but not a bird they’ve actually seen or heard in the wild. Throughout Aotearoa, translocations are helping bring kiwi back from endangered to everywhere.

In this episode, we sit down with Tineke Joustra, Operations Manager & Population Biologist at Save the Kiwi to explore how kiwi are being returned to places where they once lived - and why people are the key to ensuring they thrive.

At first glance, a translocation mi...

In times of heavy rainfall, water can rush off farmland, carrying soil, nutrients and contaminants into waterways - and adding pressure downstream.

In this episode, we sit down with Laura Simpson from the Mangaone West Catchment Group to learn how detainment bunds help improve water quality alongside more familiar methods such as fencing off waterways, riparian plantings and wetlands.

Laura explains how understanding your local landscape, soil type, and water quality testing insights is crucial when deciding which tools to use for improving stream health. We also talk about the broader catchment-wide mindset and the...

How do you mobilise a nation for nature?

Most New Zealanders say nature matters to them. But care alone isn’t creating the level of action needed to protect it.

In this episode, we sit down with Vicki Connor, Chief Advisor Public Affairs at the Department of Conservation, for a deep dive into DOC’s “Always Be Naturing” campaign - the public-facing platform for its wider Mobilising for Nature programme.

Informed by audience research, the campaign is built around a persistent challenge: if people already care, how do you turn that care into meaningf...

Australian brush-tail possums are one of the most widespread and damaging introduced pests in Aotearoa New Zealand, with an estimated ~30 million around the country.

They are wreaking havoc on both our native plants and animals, and they put pressure on our ecosystems, farms, and the wider economy. Most of the time, we respond by suppressing possum numbers. But on Banks Peninsula, a different approach is taking shape.

In this episode, we sit down with Ollie Rutland-Sims from Pest Free Banks Peninsula to learn about their possum elimination programme: A bold mission, strategically working to drive...

In this episode, we sit down with Helen Jamieson from The Forest Bridge Trust to explore one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most elusive and lesser-known birds: the matuku-hūrepo, or Australasian bittern.

Matuku-hūrepo are large, remarkable wetland birds - apex predators, masters of camouflage, and an indicator species of wetland health. But they are also in serious trouble. With less than 1000 remaining in New Zealand, it has been said that “we are the last generation that can save the bittern.”

Helen shares what makes them so special, why they’re so hard to spot, and...

Today, we have a big announcement to share.

This year, between June and August, we’re setting off on an 11-week conservation storytelling adventure - cycling the entire length of the Danube River. From its source in southern Germany all the way to the Danube Delta around the Romania-Ukraine border, we’ll be riding more than 2,800km in the name of conservation.

We’re calling the journey Cycling for Conservation.

Along the way, we’ll be carrying everything on our bikes, meeting conservationists and communities connected to the river, and sharing their stories as we go...

Most of our relationship with the ocean happens on the surface. We sail it, fish it, surf it and photograph it. But beneath that glistening blue is a world many of us barely understand - and one that is changing fast.

In this episode, we sit down with Steve Hathaway from Young Ocean Explorers to explore a powerful idea: if we help kids fall in love with the ocean, we can change how we treat it within a generation.

After decades spent diving, filming and documenting marine life, Steve had a lightbulb moment when his...

Beneath the surface, Aotearoa New Zealand’s oceans are under growing pressure. We’re taking too much good stuff out, putting too much bad stuff in, and the system is warming faster than it can adapt - with dire consequences that are often overlooked and ignored.

In this episode, we sit down with Shaun Lee for an honest conversation about the state of our marine environment. Despite being an ocean nation, less than 1% of our EEZ (exclusive economic zone) is fully or highly protected, placing us among the worst-performing countries globally.

We are missing the UN b...

In this episode, we sit down with Keith Woodley (MNZM) from Pūkorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre, to unpack the incredible lifestyles of shorebirds, their habitats, and the work people are doing to protect them.

Here are some of the key topics we discussed:

Zoos haven’t always looked like they do today. The role of a "good zoo" is now about playing a crucial role in conservation and advocacy for animals - locally, nationally, and globally.

In this episode, we sit down with Karen Fifield, CEO of Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo and President of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), to unpack what modern zoos do to protect wildlife beyond what you experience when visiting.

Karen shares how Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo contributes through wildlife hospital care, specialist breeding programmes, fieldwork, and community support - and wh...

The smaller critters often get the least attention - yet they make up the foundations of life in our ecosystems.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, invertebrates and lizards help recycle nutrients, disperse seeds, pollinate native plants, and support the whole food web. And they’re also some of the hardest animals to actually understand and protect.

In this episode, we head back to the Southern Lakes Sanctuary for a round two with their herpetologist and invertebrate specialist, Samuel Purdie, who pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to look after species like the Southern Al...

The Queenstown Lakes District is one of the most spectacular places on Earth - a picturesque landscape of mountains, lakes, and remote valleys where nature still feels wild.

But beneath the beauty lies a conservation challenge: around 40 native species in the region are threatened or at risk of extinction.

For decades, local communities have stepped up to protect these landscapes and wildlife, powered by volunteers putting in the hard yards. Now, Southern Lakes Sanctuary is helping to take that effort to the next level, supporting the mahi of six long-running conservation groups representing nearly 100 projects...

Most New Zealanders have never seen a bat, yet their presence signals the health of our forests.

They’re our only native land mammals, quietly pollinating, eating insects, and supporting ecosystem balance. But with many areas still unmonitored and major data gaps in our understanding, their story remains half-told.

In this episode, senior ecologist and bat expert Mark Roper joins us to share insights from years of fieldwork and research into Aotearoa’s long-tailed and short-tailed bats: how they live, where they roost, the challenges of collecting and processing data on them, and how community-led proj...

For many careers, purpose doesn’t extend much beyond cashing in the payslip.

For Michelle Impey, she’s lived a career of purpose for 20+ years.

As CEO of Save the Kiwi, Michelle has led the organisation’s evolution from a one-person funding distributor to a national team delivering measurable conservation outcomes for our national icon, the kiwi bird.

In this episode, we talk candidly about building a career with purpose - the trade-offs and rewards, the culture that keeps people for decades, and how business skills like fundraising, operations and communications can drive real i...

What happens when one of the Bay of Plenty’s most degraded catchments becomes a restoration success story?

In the 90s, the Te Mania Catchment was a major source of sediment flowing into the Tauranga Moana, with a stream health of 2/10. The stream flowed through Pukekauri Farm, managed by Rick Burke and the Seddon family. And they decided to do something about it.

They began their journey of environmental restoration at the same time as redesigning the farm to maximise productivity. Today, after 25+ years of riparian fencing, wetland restoration, pest control and assisted native regeneration, th...

Nature doesn’t stop at the fence-line, so why should conservation?

Throughout Aotearoa, catchment groups are changing the conservation narrative. Farmers, foresters, iwi and communities are working together at landscape scale - proving that when landowners are given structure and support, they become powerful custodians of nature.

The results ripple well beyond any single farm gate. From 6,000-hectare predator control projects to riparian planting that cools streams, this work flows from the headwaters to the moana, making towns more resilient to cyclones, waterways healthier, and ecosystems more connected.

But catchment groups are more th...

When a child says, “Mum, I did something to save the planet,” something shifts - not just in the home, but throughout the local community.

In this episode, we’re joined by Sally Clegg from Trees for Survival, a long-running, school-based programme that’s growing the next generation of environmental changemakers.

Through hands-on reforestation projects, school children are cultivating native seedlings and planting them on retired farmland to stabilise eroded hillsides and restore the edges of waterways. In these places, native trees filter water, anchor soil, and kickstart habitat recovery.

It’s not just about...

“People are the absolute silver bullet to this whole predator-free thing.”

Dan Henry didn’t set out to lead a movement. But when he and a friend began handing out rat traps around their suburb of Miramar, something clicked. No committees. No red tape. Just a simple idea people could say yes to.

Predator Free Miramar was born.

Over the following 6 years, that idea helped turn an entire urban peninsula in Wellington into a predator free zone - strengthening not just local biodiversity, but the social fabric of the community itself.

What s...

Commercial pine forests and kiwi conservation: contradiction or opportunity?

“We know kiwi are happy to live in commercial forests. And we know that of New Zealand's landmass, I think it's something like 7% of that landmass is covered in commercial forests of some description.”

That’s about 1.8 million hectares of a largely untapped habitat many people overlook!

In this episode, forestry specialist Craig Balsom from Save the Kiwi explains the sometimes surprising role New Zealand’s pine plantation forests can play in kiwi conservation.

Craig shares how Save the Kiwi and forest owners are...

“I hold hope for the future of kea in that they are smart and adaptable birds, but we really need to act to help them on their way.”

And it takes a special kind of people to do exactly that: you need equal parts physical endurance, technical mountaineering expertise, and adaptive problem-solving in some of Aotearoa’s most challenging environments.

Picture this: walking a thousand metres straight up alpine terrain with tramping packs loaded with camping gear and scientific equipment. Then spending days catching and banding kea, or triangulating radio signals with directional aerials through unmark...

New Zealand's most intelligent native bird is at risk of fading away, despite being highly visible around tourist hotspots.

Kea, the world's only alpine parrot, captivates hearts and minds with their vibrant personalities and remarkable intelligence comparable to that of a four-year-old child.

These charismatic birds skillfully navigate harsh mountain environments, yet face a range of threats pushing their population to dangerously low levels - just a few thousand individuals spread across 3.5 million hectares.

In this episode of the People Helping Nature Podcast, Tamsin Orr-Walker, co-founder and chair of the Kea Conservation Trust...

“If you want to know how many kororā live in New Zealand, go find them.”

The world’s smallest penguin species could be vanishing right before our eyes - without enough data to confirm their suspected decline.

Kororā (little penguins) are thought to be in trouble throughout Aotearoa, yet we lack the nationwide monitoring to prove it.

In this episode of the People Helping Nature Podcast, Hiltrun Ratz and Melissa McLuskie from the New Zealand Penguin Initiative (NZPI) reveal how they're uniting community groups all over NZ to fill critical knowledge gaps about this spe...

“The Raukūmara was never prioritised. It was forgotten."

For generations, local iwi Ngati Porou and Te Whanau-a-Apanui watched their ancestral forest degrade. The Raukūmara reached breaking point. Deer had stripped the understory bare, and possums and rats had multiplied unchecked, reaching catastrophic levels. The question became urgent: how could they save their dying forest?

In this episode of the People Helping Nature Podcast, Ora Barlow, who played an instrumental role, shares the remarkable journey of the Raukūmara Pae Maunga Restoration Project - an iwi-led conservation initiative that's become the largest of its kind...

What if businesses could become a driving force behind positive environmental action, complementing and accelerating conservation efforts worldwide?

Despite their significant impact on our planet, less than 10% of small businesses have measured their carbon footprint.

The perceived complexity of taking climate action has created a massive barrier - something Carlos Chambers experienced firsthand when his previous company's carbon measurement took an astonishing 130 hours to complete. This led him to start CarbonInvoice™ to help solve this problem using technology.

In this episode of the People Helping Nature Podcast, we explore how businesses can move be...

What does it take to transform a planting project into a thriving, self-sustaining NZ native forest?

In short, it's a long-term commitment that goes far beyond the initial planting day: The secret to success isn't the day you put trees in the ground, it comes from everything that happens before and after.

In this episode of the People Helping Nature Podcast, we welcome Wayne O’Keefe back to share crucial insights and practical tips on the planning, planting and protection phases of reforestation, based on his 20+ years of experience.

Wayne explains why understanding yo...

It’s been estimated that more than 2.5 million feral cats call Aotearoa NZ home.

2.5 million!

That's big numbers, making them a growing problem and an increasing threat…

These aren’t your typical domestic house cat. They are wild animals, and they’re having a devastating impact on our native wildlife.

"Comparing a feral cat to a domestic cat is like comparing a wolf to a Labrador"

Feral cats predate on all kinds of taonga species - from lizards to bats to kiwi - and their numbers are increasing every year. In...

What happens when a whale or dolphin strands on a New Zealand beach? For over 50 years, Project Jonah has been the lifeline for these marine mammals in distress, pioneering rescue techniques that have contributed to global standards.

Daren Grover, Project Jonah’s General Manager, reveals how this organisation evolved from successfully campaigning against the whaling industry in the 1970s to becoming leaders in marine mammal rescue. Through their nationwide network of 1000s of trained volunteers, Project Jonah is able to mobilise rapid responses to approximately 300 strandings every year.

From the unique "whale trap" geography of Fa...

What New Zealand predator flies at up to 200km/hour yet is now rarer than our iconic kiwi? With fewer than 8,000 kārearea (NZ’s endemic falcon) remaining, these aerial hunters serve as crucial indicators of our ecosystem's health.

For 32+ years, the Wingspan Bird of Prey Centre in Rotorua has been at the forefront of protecting these remarkable predators and reversing their decline.

In this episode of the People Helping Nature Podcast, General Manager Ineke Milner, reveals how Wingspan blends 4,000-year-old falconry practices with cutting-edge conservation techniques.

Through Wingspan’s four main focuses (rehab...

What if we viewed Earth not as a resource to be managed, but as our home to be cherished?

In this profound conversation, Rob McGowan (Pā Ropata), leader of the Tīwaiwaka movement and respected rongoā practitioner, reveals a transformative set of enduring principles for healing our relationship with Papatūānuku (mother earth).

Rob challenges conventional thinking about environmental action, revealing how small, mindful changes in our daily lives can collectively reshape the way we interact with nature. By shifting from a "me" to a "we" worldview, we can create a future where both people and p...

Can poor-quality predator control be worse than no control at all? According to one of New Zealand's leading trapping experts, the answer might surprise you.

In this episode of the People Helping Nature Podcast, John Bissell, owner of ⁠Backblocks Environmental Management⁠ and National Predator Control Advisor for ⁠Save the Kiwi⁠, challenges conventional thinking about removing introduced predators.

Drawing from decades of experience as a professional predator hunter and conservation specialist, John reveals why treating them as intelligent adversaries - rather than assuming they'll blindly walk into any trap - is crucial for success.

Through...

Dogs navigate the world through scent, and kiwi have an irresistibly strong smell. Add to this a kiwi's lack of a breastbone, and even the gentlest nudge from a curious dog can be fatal.

So, how do we create the space for both kiwi and dogs to thrive as they increasingly share the same spaces?

In this episode of the People Helping Nature Podcast, Save the Kiwi's dog specialist, Emma Craig brings practical solutions to this challenging reality.

From night-time containment to specialised avoidance training for working dogs and tackling feral pack challenges...

What if a small community on New Zealand's Banks Peninsula could come together to purchase and restore a piece of land to create a lasting conservation legacy for future generations?

That’s exactly what the team at Le Bons Bay Conservation Trust are doing, and they’re nearly there – with 80% of their fundraising goal already achieved!

Join our korero with Matthew MacDonald as we explore how they launched their crowdfunding campaign to raise funds to buy and restore land, and how their work ties into a larger movement of community-driven conservation on Banks Peninsula.

Whet...

In neighbourhoods around New Zealand, predator control is becoming as normal as recycling or composting.

Jessi Morgan, CEO of Predator Free New Zealand Trust, reveals how they're turning individual actions into a nationwide movement. By equipping communities with knowledge, tools, and support, they're empowering every New Zealander to contribute to an ambitious goal: a country free of rats, stoats, and possums by 2050.

From AI-powered traps to innovative toxins, Jessi shares how Kiwi ingenuity and collective action is transforming the predator control landscape. But this isn't just about removing predators – it's about creating resilient ecosystems where na...

The last few months of building the People Helping Nature podcast have been a wild ride, to say the least!

We’ve been blessed with opportunities to interview inspiring and renowned guests, and have learned so much already.

So, we thought it was about time to share an update with you on how this podcast is progressing.

This short update-style episode is something we’re testing and thinking of doing every 10 or 20 episodes to keep you in the loop and document our learnings over time, so please let us know what you think and...

What if every New Zealander could encounter a kiwi in the wild?

Michelle Impey, CEO of Save the Kiwi, shares how this innovative organisation is working to make this vision a reality throughout Aotearoa New Zealand.

By empowering community-led initiatives, Save the Kiwi supports and amplifies grassroots conservation work. From predator control to responsible pet ownership and leading translocations, they're tackling the challenges facing kiwi on a wide range of fronts.

But it's not just about protecting our national bird. Michelle reveals how their work creates a ripple effect, benefiting a wide range...

What if we could amplify the impact of community conservation efforts across an entire region?

Michelle Elborn, CEO of Bay Conservation Alliance (BCA), shares how this innovative umbrella organisation is doing just that in New Zealand's Bay of Plenty.

Founded by community, for community, BCA supports and grows the capability of local conservation groups. From helping with admin to facilitating funding applications and beyond, BCA enables volunteers to focus on their passion - hands-on conservation work.

But it's not just about operational support. By uniting diverse groups, BCA creates a powerful collective voice...

Imagine a future where the threat of extinction for New Zealand's forest species is eliminated... forever.

Now imagine achieving this for less than 30 cents per person per week!

This isn't just a conservationist's dream – it's a well-researched proposal that could revolutionise our approach to conservation.

At the heart of this vision is Jim Lynch, co-founder of the wildly successful Zealandia fenced ecosanctuary in Wellington's Karori Valley.

Building on the triumphs and lessons of Zealandia, Jim has developed an ambitious new concept: a network of ten fenced megasanctuaries, each spanning 3000-5000 hectares, st...

Landscape-scale conservation projects are a key part of Aotearoa New Zealand’s biodiversity future.

They connect the many localised community efforts, passionate landowners and patches of remnant forest to achieve much wider-reaching conservation outcomes.

When we unite these smaller, seperate activities into catchment-wide, inclusive initiatives, the possibilities are endless…

Enter: ⁠The Forest Bridge Trust⁠ (TFBT).

The vision for TFBT started in 2013 when founders Kevin and Gill Adshead reintroduced kiwi to their family farm in Glorit, Rodney.

They quickly realised that for these flightless birds to thrive, they would require a massiv...