People Helping Nature Podcast

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 might sound simple: move kiwi from one safe place to another. But as Tineke explains, it takes years of planning, predator control, monitoring, dog management, iwi and hapū relationships, community support, and a shared long-term vision before kiwi can be returned safely.
Because when kiwi come back, they do more than boost population numbers. They can become “the carrot” that motivates people to go the extra mile.
Here are some of the key topics we discussed:
How current kiwi population numbers compare to historical estimates
Why kiwi populations declined drastically
What kiwi translocations are and how they work
Save the Kiwi’s Kōhanga Kiwi Strategy
How safe sites can help grow kiwi populations for future release
What makes a landscape ready to receive kiwi
Why relationships are central to successful translocations
The role of iwi, hapū, neighbours, landowners and community groups
How kiwi populations could eventually reconnect through safe habitat corridors
Case Studies: Capital Kiwi & Waiheke Island translocations
The importance of bringing kiwi closer to our backyards to restore our connection
And much more…
Love the People Helping Nature Podcast? Get notified when new episodes go live - subscribe for emails here: https://ww.conservationamplified.org
👩About Tineke:
Tineke Joustra is a conservation scientist with more than two decades of experience working with New Zealand wildlife. As the Operations Manager and Population Biologist for Save the Kiwi, Tineke merges science and logistics to lead the national strategic framework for kiwi conservation across Aotearoa. Her portfolio spans translocations, kōhanga management, population modelling, research/innovation, and driving excellence in best-practice standards. She is committed to building robust, science-based strategies in partnership with iwi/hapū and community projects to establish the best possible long-term decisions for kiwi recovery.
🔗Learn more:
Website: savethekiwi.nz
Save the Kiwi Kōhanga Kiwi Strategy: savethekiwi.nz/about-us/what-we-do/kohanga-kiwi
Report a kiwi sighting: savethekiwi.nz/report-a-kiwi
Kiwi avoidance training: kiwiavoidancetraining.nz
Support: donate-save-a-kiwi.raiselysite.com
🎙️Learn more about the podcast at www.conservationamplified.org

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 importance of working together from source to sea to create resilience in our landscapes.
Ultimately, healthier waterways means healthier farms, ecosystems, and communities.
Detainment bunds are not a silver bullet. But in the right places, they can help slow water, reduce sediment loss, protect wetlands, and keep more soil and nutrients on the land where they belong.
Here are some of the key topics we discussed:
What detainment bunds are and how they work.
How detainment bunds can help slow floodwater and reduce sediment loss.
Why soil type and local landscape knowledge matter.
The importance of regular water testing.
How detainment bunds can work alongside wetlands, riparian planting and fencing.
Why reducing sediment upstream benefits waterways further downstream.
The importance of catchment-wide collaboration.
Conservation outcomes and swimmable rivers.
And much more…
Love the People Helping Nature Podcast? Get notified when new episodes go live - subscribe for emails here: www.conservationamplified.org
👩About Laura:
Laura Simpson is the Mangaone West Catchment Group’s leader, a rural professional, on the Manawatū River Catchment Collective’s committee, and part of the family farming operation. Planting and protecting wetlands on her family farm led to getting involved in the Mangaone West Catchment Group and eventually taking on the leadership role. With a Bachelor of Science in Earth Science, and a Masters in Agricultural Science, Laura understands the importance of data driven decision making for projects within the catchment group.
🔗Learn more:
Website: https://manawatu-river-catchments-collective.co.nz/mangaone-west-catchment
Detainment Bund Consultancy: https://www.detainmentbund.co.nz
🎙️About the podcast:
The People Helping Nature podcast is brought to you by Conservation Amplified, a registered New Zealand charity.
We are on a mission to help make conservation mainstream by amplifying the awesome stuff people are doing to help nature all around Aotearoa New Zealand.
Because when people are aware, connected to the ecosystems around them and care enough to take positive action, only then will we see lasting change.
Listen in and follow us to start or deepen your journey.
Find out more about Conservation Amplified at www.conservationamplified.org.

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 meaningful action at scale?
The research also revealed a disconnect - most New Zealanders believe nature is doing relatively well. In reality, the situation is far more fragile, with 4,000+ native species threatened or at risk of extinction.
We unpack what the campaign is actually trying to do, why DOC chose to broaden the frame from “conservation” to “naturing”, and how connection to nature can become a more accessible entry point for the people and businesses who care but don’t yet know where they fit in.
We also explore more broadly how nature should be communicated in Aotearoa if we want to reach beyond the already-converted and make it easier for communities, businesses, and everyday people to participate.
This conversation is especially relevant for people working in conservation, communications, behaviour change, community engagement, and anyone curious about where nature storytelling in New Zealand is heading next.
Here are some of the key topics we discussed:
What Always be Naturing is and how it fits into DOC’s wider Mobilising for Nature programme
Why the gap between caring and doing is such a major challenge
How research and audience insights informed this campaign
Why DOC is focusing on connection, relevance, and everyday action
Reaching younger and urban audiences without losing the bigger picture
Changing perceptions about the state, role and value of nature in our everyday lives and society
And much more…
Love the People Helping Nature Podcast? Get notified when new episodes go live - subscribe for emails here: https://ww.conservationamplified.org
👩About Vicki:
Vicki is a Londoner who proudly calls Wellington home these days. She’s spent her career working across communications, marketing, brand, and behaviour change programmes both in and out of the public sector. Nature and the environment are her thing. She spent five years as Director Communications and Engagement at the Ministry for the Environment, before heading to DOC as the Director of Customer Engagement. Now in the Chief Advisor role, Vicki works across Public Affairs and is leading DOC’s programme to mobilise New Zealanders for nature – a project she describes as the most exciting thing she has ever had the privilege to be a part of. Her happy place is getting sweaty in nature. Her favourite bird is the kaka, although she is quite partial to a blackbird.
🔗Learn more:
Website: https://www.doc.govt.nz
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/docgovtnz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/docgovtnz
🎙️Learn more about the podcast at www.conservationamplified.org

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 possum numbers to zero in their area under the ethos that “offence is the best defence”.
As Ollie explains, “we're now dealing with quite a legacy problem and a population that really, the only checks and balances on it are coming from human inputs”
Ollie shares Pest Free Banks Peninsula’s 4-stage elimination strategy: Knock-down → mop-up → surveillance → and lastly the defence phase after a block of land has been declared possum-free.
It’s an approach that’s working, with 5,800 hectares already declared possum-free - and could be used as blueprint for possum elimination throughout the country.
We also talk about mindset and the need to constantly deliver professional, spot-on work for this elimination approach to work: Continuous learning about your target species and constant improvments are key to success.
Amazingly the benefits of this mahi reach far beyond positive biodiversity and conservation outcomes, with local farmers, community, and the economy also gaining.
This project shows that eliminating a pest species in an open system on the mainland is not only achievable but also an investment in the future.
Here are some of the key topics we discussed:
Why brush-tail possums were introduced into NZ.
Why they’re such a big threat to our native flora and fauna.
The benefits of possum elimination vs. supression.
Their 4-phase elimination approach.
How reinvasions are managed in an open mainland system.
The long term cost savings of elimination vs. suppression.
The importance of social license and relationships with private landowners.
What to do when you see a possum on the Banks Peninsula.
And much more…
Love the People Helping Nature Podcast? Get notified when new episodes go live - subscribe here: www.conservationamplified.org
🧑‍🦱About Ollie:
Ollie Rutland-Sims works for the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust as an Operations Coordinator within their Pest Free Banks Peninsula program, leading field teams working toward landscape-scale possum elimination near Akaroa, Banks Peninsula. With a background in practical, boots-on-the-ground conservation, Ollie combines operational planning with hands-on experience in wildlife management. He’s passionate about improving field efficiency, supporting strong team culture, and delivering meaningful conservation outcomes for Aotearoa.
🔗Learn more:
Website: https://www.pestfreebankspeninsula.org.nz
Report a possum: https://www.survey123.arcgis.com/share/b152f02a20e14959a80c97917cc669d1
🎙️Learn more about the People Helping Nature Podcast at www.conservationamplified.org

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 the major challenges they face - from habitat loss and declining food sources to car strikes and introduced predators.
We also talk about why bittern can be such a powerful species for community conservation. When people understand what matuku-hūrepo are, how rare they are, and what they need to survive, they often want to help. That can mean restoring wetlands, getting involved in local projects, or taking part in the Great Matuku Muster - a nationwide citizen science effort to monitor booming males during the breeding season.
Helen reminds us that she’s not a scientist or long-time species expert. She’s a caring local who became fascinated by bittern, got involved, and followed that curiosity into action. This is a conversation about a remarkable bird, the wetlands it depends on, and how communities can rally around both.
Here are some of the key topics we discussed:
Matuku-hūrepo (Australiasian Bittern): their adaptations, threats, and conservation status
Why Matuku-hūrepo need healthy wetlands to thrive
Benefits of wetland restoration beyond threatened species conservation
How to activate a community in the name of conservation
How Helen got involved through The Forest Bridge Trust
The tiny wetland that Helen's family is restoring on their property, and what they're learning from it
The Great Matuku Muster - a nationwide initiative to monitor bittern numbers
And much more…
Love the People Helping Nature Podcast? Get notified when new episodes go live - subscribe for emails here: https://www.conservationamplified.org
👩About Helen:
Helen has lived in the Matakana region for more than 13 years with her husband and their two daughters. She has a background in business and community projects and has also been involved in managing the Matakana Markets. Helen and her family have been actively controlling predators (rats, stoats, possums, wasps, etc.) and restoring the wetland on their own land.
She began working with The Forest Bridge Trust in 2022 and is project manager for the DoC-funded project to facilitate community conservation to protect matuku hūrepo, tara iti and pāteke on Te Korowai O Te Tonga peninsula (South Head).
🔗Learn more:
Website: https://www.theforestbridgetrust.org.nz
The Great Matuku Muster: https://lovebittern.com/take-action/the-great-matuku-hurepo-muster
Our tiny wetland (Helen’s project): https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61581256861699