Mr Dick Veitch, ONZM, of Auckland, for services to wildlife conservation
Dick Veitch had a long career with the New Zealand Wildlife Service and the Department of Conservation and has continued to contribute to species conservation programmes since his retirement. He helped save the Chatham Islands black robin and kākāpō from extinction and has worked on safeguarding other species’ populations. He has developed and deployed techniques to eradicate predators. He has led the editing of three books on island invasive species management. He has volunteered with the South Auckland branch of Birds New Zealand for 50 years and set up a group to study and tag international migratory wader birds. He worked on the Eastern United States seaboard to monitor international wader populations. Mr Veitch helped to form the Pūkorokoro Miranda Naturalists’ Trust, set up to protect shorebird habitats.