Tararua Tramping Club remembers a committed conservationist
Tararua Tramping Club, established in 1919, is New Zealand’s longest-running tramping club. They have created a scholarship in memory of Michael Taylor, a former president and life member of the club, who tragically fell to his death on Mt Twilight in Mt Aspiring National Park while on a summer trip.
Since 2017, the Michael Taylor Memorial Award has supported postgraduate students involved in active conservation field research, preferably in the Wellington region, and includes a year’s membership of the club.
The club now numbers around 700 members and produces a monthly newsletter jam packed with stories and photos of their adventures, along with weekly meetings where students present their research findings to the group.
A highly respected and able tramper who loved the outdoors, Michael Taylor was known for constantly stopping to take photographs. Known as the ‘prince of the tramping club’, he taught bushcraft, volunteered for search and rescue, and was kind and helpful to less experienced members.
He surprised fellow trampers by producing treats such as pineapple or Christmas cake from his pack and was known to whip up a cheesecake in the hut. On his final tramp he had prepared homemade chocolates for everyone for New Year’s Eve.
Michael lived a low-carbon lifestyle and was often seen cycling around Wellington, wearing shorts in winter and summer. With a sharp analytical mind and a passionate interest in protecting the environment, he wrote many submissions to the Greater Wellington Regional Council on behalf of himself and the Club.
The committee took some time deciding how to best make use of the generous bequest Michael left to the Club. Michael believed that the protection and restoration of the natural environment should be considered the most fundamental part of sustainability. Some Club members familiar with the work of Associate Professor Stephen Hartley and the work of the Centre for Biodiversity and Restoration Ecology (CBRE) felt that supporting this research would be a suitable way to further Michael’s conservation interests.
In recent years, scholarship recipients have studied endangered swamp maire trees and the abundance of kererū throughout Aotearoa.
The 2023 award recipient Peter Alexander is monitoring tuatara reproduction on Takapourewa (Stephens Island) in Cook Strait and says he is grateful the award will allow him to purchase more environmental data loggers.
“This data will be used to model the environmental conditions of tuatara nests, providing insight into how climate change might impact developing embryos.”
Peter is excited to contribute to the Club’s objecttive ‘to protect native flora and fauna and the natural features of the country’ through the legacy of Michael Taylor.
Club member Brian Hasell says they are delighted with the success of the students’ research so far and are keen to continue the award.
“The Tararua Tramping Club is pleased with the long-term relationship with the University and the CBRE research programme as it is something Michael Taylor would have been very interested in.”