Jane and Jim Young, Old Blue Award recipients 2025. Image supplied
South Otago conservationist couple Jane and Jim Young have been honoured with Forest & Bird’s prestigious Old Blue award for their outstanding work with the organisation’s South Otago branch and for conservation over many years.
South Otago co-chair Roy Johnstone describes Jane and Jim as passionate, hardworking volunteers who have brought many skills to the branch.
“Jane and Jim have contributed enormously and continue to contribute to the success of our small branch. Between them, they contribute thousands of volunteer hours annually for Forest & Bird,” Roy says.
Jim and Jane both have a background in teaching biology which gave them a solid grounding as advocates for conservation and since retirement they have channelled their passion and energy into protecting and enhancing nature.
“As biology teachers we always had an interest in environmental issues and would take kids on trips. We tried to preach the good word and so we kicked off from there,” Jim says.
Jane had some help joining Forest & Bird from someone less than sympathetic to the cause. Hoping for a civilised discussion, Jane had arranged a meeting between both sides of a contentious debate about creating a marine reserve in the Catlins. The proposal drew a lot of hostility, and one woman complained on the local radio about the “Forest & Bird greenie” trying to promote propaganda.
“At that time, I wasn’t a member of Forest & Bird, but I duly became one, thinking if I’m going to be accused of being a greenie I’m going to become one,” she recalls.
Jane hasn’t regretted her decision and says her experience with Forest & Bird has been very rewarding.
“One of the nice things about Forest & Bird is you end up with a group of friends who share your interests and are passionate about what they do. We’re a very small branch but probably about a third of our members are actively involved on the committee and doing stuff,” she says.
The couple runs the branch’s native plant nursery at their Ōwaka property, raising more than $10,000 each year for the branch through sales, and donating 400-500 plants to revegetation projects. Recently they have been involved with establishing a native plant arboretum, sponsored by the branch, at a local school.
Jim has been trapping predators at hoiho yellow-eyed penguin nesting sites along the Catlins coast since 2010 and is also involved in predator control projects at other reserves, including Forest & Bird’s Lenz Reserve.
He also uses his teaching experience to advocate for conservation and climate change issues. For a number of years he organised the branch’s Catlins environmental summer programme, and continues to lead bushwalks at the Lenz Reserve.
Jane is also a committed advocate for nature, speaking to schools and other groups about the environment. She is a skilled writer and has written books on environmental genomics and coal mining, as well as letters and articles for the local media, and branch and individual submissions. She has also written branch newsletters and edited the branch’s publication Catlins Birds: a pocket guide.
Both Jim and Jane have served on the South Otago branch’s committee for at least a decade-and-a-half and Jane was elected chair in 2020 and has served as co-chair since 2023.