Please donate to help our charity. The DB Environmental Trust is a Registered Charitable Trust and donations may qualify for a tax rebate.
Dianne Buchan, Chairperson
Di was a social and environmental researcher for thirty years and is now retired. Throughout her career she has worked on a wide variety of projects throughout New Zealand and the Pacific. She is a Fellow of the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand (EIANZ) and a Certified Environment Practitioner (CEnvP). In 2017 she received the Institute's Simon Molesworth Award for leadership, commitment and ethical practice within the environment profession.
She is chairperson of the Ōtaki Rotunda Trust which is raising funds for the restoration of the huge rotunda building at the old Ōtaki Childrens Health Camp - a category 1 historic building – which the trust hopes to restore for use as a community events centre.
She is also a trustee of Energise Ōtaki, an organisation which aims to get the town of Ōtaki carbon neutral by 2035. This trust in engaged in a wide range of activities aimed at reducing waste, reducing energy consumption and generating solar power. Di is in charge of the trust’s Carbon Forests project which aims to get 32 hectares of new planting around the town to soak up the carbon that can’t be mitigated any other way.
In 2023 she received a Queens Service Medal for her contribution to community and the environment.
Richard Morgan, Trustee
Richard Morgan is a professor of geography at the University of Otago, where he has worked since 1979. He has taught many students the delights of soil and vegetation studies over the years, and in more recent times has taken his interests in human impacts on ecosystems into the realms of environmental management, to equip students with the thinking and practical tools to deal with the environmental challenges communities the world over face. Richard has particular interests in the process of impact assessment, an aid to good decision making by councils and governments, which is how he bumped into Di, through their shared interests in this family of methods. A past president of the International Association for Impact Assessment, and current chair of the New Zealand Association for Impact Assessment, Richard is very proud to be associated with the Di Buchan Environmental Trust.
Moira Lawler, Trustee
Moira has a background in community-led development and innovation and has been in leadership roles in local government, central government and community organisations. An award winning community engagement practitioner, Moira believes passionately in the power of community, and their ability to work together to respond to complex challenges. Moira has a Masters of Public Policy, and has served on local, national and international boards. A first generation New Zealander, Moira and her family are restoring a piece of land in Northland placed under QE11 covenant. She is a member of local environmental groups with a particular focus on the ocean.
Chris Cosslett, Trustee
Chris has a Bachelor of Parks and Recreation Management from Lincoln University and a Masters of Environmental Studies from Victoria University. Following an earlier career as a contract researcher/analyst, these days he is involved mainly in practical matters. His main areas of interest and experience are native revegetation, pest and weed control, forestry and open space planning and management. Until recently Chris co-ordinated, on behalf of Greater Wellington Regional Council, revegetation work on private land. He is skilled at designing projects that are likely to succeed, at engaging and overseeing contractors to carry out practical works, and also at looking after revegetated areas through to establishment - the all-important pest and weed control following the glamour of planting. Such projects have included native revegetation and plantation forestry, some of which used alternatives to pines. Chris is currently the part-time ranger for a Trust-owned nature reserve adjacent to Zealandia in Karori. His roles there are mainly pest and weed control, maintaining a goat-proof boundary fence, monitoring rodents, and managing relationships with neighbours. Chris has had lots of experience controlling animal pests and with various methods of weed control. He is particularly experienced in the careful control of weeds around desirable (native) plants. Chris loves trees and believes the world needs a lot more of them. He is particularly interested in high value alternatives to pines for small-scale timber production.
Charlotte Hird, Trustee
Charlotte worked as a graphic artist for 40 year and now is full time watercolour artist and teacher. As a hobby she gained a BSc in Geology from Victoria University. With her husband she developed an organic garden and learned to propagate plants. She is a great fan of regenerative farming and the permaculture model, where a food forest can be developed and nurtured to feed people and maximise the use of land. Environmental restoration work of waterways and sustainable land use is very important and she loves being involved in this valuable Environmental Trust.
