Our Team

Without Graeme Atkins (Ngāti Porou, Rongomaiwahine), it is possible that ngutukākā may have already become extinct in the wild. Graeme is a key to the Tairāwhiti Ngutukākā project, considered by many to be the ultimate authority on the protection and preservation of this and other taonga species.

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Graeme’s great passion for this country’s native flora was fostered and nurtured in him by his mother, grandparents and the whānau he grew up with in Ruatorea, on Aotearoa’s East Coast. He was taught rongoa by his iwi tohonga, and grew up always knowing he was going to work with plants. 

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Graeme has dedicated his life to Aotearoa’s most threatened species. Working for thirty years with New Zealand’s Department of Conservation, Graeme is involved in a range of native plant recovery groups, including kakabeak, te pua o te rēinga (dactylanthus), and many others. Graeme is a Trustee of Dame Anne Salmond’s Waikereru Ecosanctuary; a Trustee of the Coastal Restoration Trust of New Zealand; a member of the National Myrtle Rust response group; a co-founder of the Raukūmara Pae Maunga Restoration Project; and holds many more paid and volunteer roles, not just in conservation but also to serve his iwi, community and whanau.

Graeme is an independent consultant and Director of Te Rimu Consultancy. He assists clients on ecological restoration plans and farm strategies to ensure sustainable agricultural practices; assessing ecological effects, carbon sequestration methods, and environmental programmes; and providing holistic solutions for environmental stewardship.

Graeme also focuses on regional, national and international events, workshops and wānanga to raise awareness, promote understanding of ecological issues, learn and share solutions that are by Māori, for everyone.

Graeme was a recipient of the 2019 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Local Hero medal; was formally recognised in 2005 by the Tindall Foundation and the Project Crimson Trust for his mahi planting 14,000 pohutukawa; and in 2020 was the winner of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most prestigious conservation prize: the Loader Cup.

In 2024, alongside his great friend Stu Muir, Graeme was one of the three finalists in the Kiwibank Ministry for the Environment Environmental Hero of the Year.

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Getting paid to look after te taiao is Graeme’s dream come true, as he considers himself blessed to have been able to turn his passion into a career. Graeme lives with wife Makere and is proud pāpā to three children, at least one of whom will follow in his footsteps. 

Makere Atkins (Ngāti Porou, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui) is from Tokomaru Bay and lives in Ruatorea with her husband Graeme (who describes Makere as his “anchor”).

Makere is currently working as a kaiako but also has a Bachelor in Health Science in Paramedicine and previously served her community with St John Ambulance. Makere is passionate about hauora, te taiao, te reo me ona tikanga, te ao Māori and her whānau, and is proud māmā to three tamariki.

Ko Raukūmara te ngahere.
Ko Turanganui-a-kiwa te moana.
No Te Tairāwhiti ahau.

Mere Tamanui is the Director of Taniwha Connections, an environmental wai Māori service connecting whānau ki te whenua, ki uta ki Tai. Mere is also Director of Uawa Factory Road Native Nursery, which specialises in providing native plants for local projects and waterways.
With Supporting Certificates and a diploma, Mere has achieved a Bachelor's degree in Te Mana Ao Tūroa Taiao (Māori Advancement in the Environment).

Mere teaches part time at Mangatuna Kura, looking after the Wenerei Whenua kaupapa that connects tamariki with whakapapa taiao, reinvigorating ancestral knowledge to foster kaitiekitanga. Mere also works with local iwi and hapū to support water monitoring education and provide a citizenship science platform with a mātauranga Māori lens, to gather baseline data for environmental resource management plans.

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In 2018, Mere was a finalist in the Cawthorn Institute’s River Story awards (a celebration of river and catchment communities that are improving awa health in Aotearoa) for her tireless work and commitment to the cultural wellbeing of the waterways near her home in Tolaga Bay. Here, Mere introduced the bioblitz initiatve to Te Aitanga a Hauiti: "to know what to do, is to know what you have, and if the loss of people's connections to space and place result in the loss of biodiversity... how do we change that?"

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Mere’s inspiration are her whakapapa, her tamariki and her mokopuna. Mere has five children, at least one who is also an eco-warrior in persuit of his own degree in a field related to te taiao. Mere’s tamariki all have her passion for their surroundings and an eye for the subtle details of nature. 

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Mere loves to be in the ngahere and is firmly at home in nature. Mere loves her work, her garden, her whānau and her trees, but her great passion and life long work is for the preservation and protection of tuna, in particular the endangered long finned eel, which means, for Mere... Water is Life.

(Te Whānāu-a-Apanui)