Amy-Grace McIlraith (Environment Canterbury) works in the Braided River Revival team and has a focus on fauna and in-braid habitat, including large-scale fairway clearance and bird island enhancement work. She delivers complex, large-scale projects with a holistic approach and commitment to improvement and collaboration. Having studied soil science and resource management, she has worked in multiple roles in councils throughout her career she is a true ‘jack of all trades’, her background and experience spans compliance and flood protection, project management and geospatial analysis.
Shaun McCracken (Environment Canterbury) is a Chartered Engineer leading a team of river engineers and planners at Environment Canterbury. This role involves the delivery of flood protection to Canterbury communities through the design and management of stopbanks, vegetation, riverbed topography, and related works. Shaun is part of the national River Managers Special Interest Group which is a collection of Regional Council senior staff working in NZ rivers and is a committee member of the New Zealand Society on Large Dams.
Dr. Philip Grove: (Environment Canterbury) has worked at Environment Canterbury Regional Council since 2001 as a terrestrial and wetland ecologist in the Science Group. Amongst other things, this job has involved survey and monitoring of the region’s wetland and braided river floodplain habitats, and their birdlife.
Dr. Jean Jack: (Environment Canterbury) a land ecologist, provides advice to ECan staff, particularly for consent processing. In the past: a student and tutor of ecology at Lincoln University where she gained a PhD in Ecology looking at Ecosystem Services of native plants in agricultural landscapes. Originally Jean is from Oakura in Taranaki with family connections back to Timaru & Lyttelton – where she now calls home.
Andrew Crossland (Christchurch City Council) is a park ranger and ornithologist. He has been researching and monitoring riverbed and wetland birds since the mid 1980s, and since 1995 has been periodically escaping to SE Asia and studying shorebirds there.
Niall Mugan (Keystone Ecology) Ornithologist and manger of Keystone Ecology Ltd. 15 years of working on braided rivers surveying birds.
Jennifer Schori (Department of Conservation) works out of the Te Manahuna Twizel office. She is a Senior Ranger for Project River Recovery, a project that compensates for the ecological impacts of the Upper Waitaki hydro scheme on braided rivers and wetlands. Her role combines on‑the‑ground conservation action with research and threatened species monitoring to address key knowledge gaps in braided river ecosystems, particularly those in the upper Waitaki basin.
Samantha Turner (Department of Conservation) is a Biodiversity Ranger for Project River Recovery based in Twizel. She conducts research and monitoring in the braided rivers and wetlandsof the Upper Waitaki Basin to benefit native plants and animals. Some of her current work is focussed on black-fronted terns, non-migratory galaxiids, Lakes skinks and threatened grasshoppers.
Greg Stanley (Environment Canterbury) is the Team Leader of Braided River Revival and brings over a decade of experience as a Regional Park Ranger and Biodiversity Officer. Greg is a highly regarded restoration ecologist and is very focussed on making change on-the-ground. Greg is passionate about Canterbury’s ecology, the betterment of our immediate environment, and safeguarding wild habitats for future generations.
Ailsa Howard (Forest & Bird / Kaikoura Banded dotterel study / Hutton’s Shearwater Charitable Trust) has a lifelong passion for NZ’s biodiversity. Her interest began with a love of botany and wild places as a young child. She is the chairperson of the Kaikoura branch of Forest and Bird, a Hutton’s Shearwater Trustee and her current focus is using scientific rigour to increase our knowledge of banded dotterel while advocating for its protection. She has studied the species for ten years, most intensively at South Bay, Kaikoura.
Dr. Sarah Edwards (Bioeconomy Science Institute: BSI) is an environmental social scientist in the interdisciplinary field of environmental management. Her research has focused on a range of complex environmental management issues, including the risk management of GMO research, food resilience, social licence to farm, and biosecurity technologies. In recent years, Sarah has been exploring the complexities of cat management in Aotearoa New Zealand, ensuring that social science research is integrated with ecological research to influence regional conservation issues and broader national-level conversations surrounding cat management.
Dr. Sze-Wing Yiu (Bioeconomy Science Institute: BSI) is a wildlife ecologist whose research focuses on applied science for invasive species management. Her work spans a broad range of topics, from improving monitoring methods to manipulating animal behaviour to enhance management outcomes. In recent years, her research has focused on developing non-lethal deterrents for cats, as well as understanding feral cat population density and detectability. She also has a growing interest in the human dimensions of wildlife management, recognising that many conservation challenges are fundamentally complex social (“wicked”) problems.
Grant Morriss (Bioeconomy Science Institute: BSI) is a senior research technician based at Lincoln. Grant started working for the Forest Research Institute in the early 1990s then it soon changed to Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research and more recently has been absorbed into the BSI. His research has focussed on vertebrate pest control. Grant has been carrying out National Animal Welfare Committee (NAWAC) testing of vertebrate pest traps for the last 20 years.
Ted Howard (Hutton’s Shearwater Charitable Trust / Kaikoura Banded dotterel study / Kaikoura Marine Guardians / Northern Regional Biosecurity / Forest & Bird) has chaired the Hutton’s Shearwater Charitable Trust for 10 years, and for 9 years has had sole care of the artificial colony (Te Rae o Atiu), had 13 years as chair of the Kaikoura Zone Water Committee, 5 years on the Canterbury Regional Water Committee, 12 years as a Kaikoura Marine Guardian, 20 years on Te Korowai o Te Tai o Marokura. He and Ailsa Howard have collaborated on many braided river bird projects over the last 10 years, and worked closely with teams from the Max Planck Institute of Ornithology.
Grant Davey (Ashley Rakahuri Rivercare Group) has been a mineral exploration geologist in six countries and was a hydrogeologist at Environment Canterbury for four years. He has a PGDip in Environmental Science. For more than eight years he’s been an active member of the Ashley Rakahuri Rivercare Group and committee member of BRaid.
Emily Wium (Ashley Rakahuri Rivercare Group) Following a degree in geography and environmental science and Master’s in disaster risk and resilience, Emily’s interests moved to conservation where she aspired to work with Aotearoa’s endangered species. She subsequently worked as a ranger for the Christchurch City Council, primarily in pest plant control and restoration. Her current role as a ranger with the Ashley Rakahuri Rivercare Group is monitoring and reporting on the Tarapirohe/Black-fronted tern breeding season and running their predator control programme.
