Dr Leslie Van Gelder, of Glenorchy, ONZM for services to conservation and dark sky sanctuaries
Dr Leslie Van Gelder is Co-Chair of the Southern Lakes Sanctuary, Chair of the Queenstown Lakes District Climate Reference Group, Chair of the Tāhuna Glenorchy Dark Skies Group and Trustee for the Winterstellar Charitable Trust. She led a community effort to achieve International Dark Sky status for Glenorchy, making it the 23rd dark sky sanctuary in the world. She represented Tāhuna Glenorchy on the international Preserving Legacies initiative, providing strategies to assess and respond to climate risks in 12 significant global sites. She has contributed to Queenstown’s economic diversification plan, destination management plan, and the creativity, heritage and culture strategy. She served as a committee member of Forest and Bird’s Central Otago Lakes branch, as a member of the Mayor’s Vision 2050 taskforce, and as Executive Officer for the Whakatipu Wildlife Trust.