Meet your northern Environment Canterbury team
We deliver work through an on-the-ground team made up of Environment Canterbury staff. Our staff provide localised assistance and advice regarding biodiversity, land management, consents and compliance.
Zone delivery - land management, biodiversity and special projects
Land management and biodiversity advisors can support you with advice or assistance when it comes to farming, land use, biodiversity projects, funding and connecting with others in Environment Canterbury. These teams are generally referred to as zone delivery teams.
See our video about how these teams work and how Environment Canterbury manages water in Canterbury.
Marco Cataloni - Zone Delivery Lead (Kaikōura and Hurunui Waiau Uwha)
Marco oversees the great mahi done by the team within the North Canterbury community.
Contact Marco if you have any queries regarding the zone team’s work or projects across the zone.
Makarini Rupene – Pou Mātai Kō/Cultural Land Management Advisor
Makarini works with industry, community groups, and landowners, alongside mana whenua, to enhance mahinga kai – he helps people understand what it is, how to protect it, and how it interacts with the natural environment.
Makarini works across North Canterbury and can offer advice on how to protect mahinga kai on your property or in your community.
Nérida Theinhardt - Zone delivery Lead (Waimakariri)
Originally born in Sweden, Nérida moved at a young age to Argentina, where she later graduated in Biology with an ecological orientation. In 2000, she came to New Zealand to have an overseas experience and immediately fell in love with its landscapes and culture. Here she did her Masters in Ecological Restoration at the University of Canterbury.
Nérida returned to Argentina for a time where she was certified as a lead auditor for a number of environmental standards. In 2019 she returned to New Zealand and did a postgraduate certificate in Environmental Management at Lincoln University.
Anna Veltman - Land Management Advisor (Waimakariri)
Anna supports landowners with Farm Environment Plans, and provides advice around good management practice and funding for biodiversity projects. Anna works closely with industry partner representatives in North Canterbury.
Contact Anna if you need support or advice on any of these topics.
Andrew Turnbull - Land Management and Biodiversity Advisor
Andrew grew up on a farm in North Canterbury and has been working in the agricultural sector ever since. Andrew can help with, and advise on, hill country erosion through the Soil Conservation and Revegetation Programme, good management practices, soil conservation, biodiversity, regulations, philosophy, catchment-scale approaches, connecting you with others in Environment Canterbury, community group support, funding, relationships and biosecurity.
Sam Thompson - Land Management and Biodiversity Advisor
Sam has been working with Canterbury farmers for the last twenty years; working in pest control, marine farming, fencing and restoration work. Sam has been with us since 2007.
Sam can help with, and advise people on, hill country erosion through the Soil Conservation and Revegetation Programme, good management practices, soil conservation, biodiversity, regulations, philosophy, catchment-scale approaches, community group support, funding, relationships and biosecurity. Sam can also help connect you with the right person in Environment Canterbury if he's unable to help.
Peter Bradshaw - Land Management and Biodiversity Advisor (Kaikōura)
Pete supports landowners with Farm Environment Plans, and provides advice around good management practice and funding for biodiversity projects.
Contact Pete if you need support or advice on any of these topics.
Heath Melville - Senior Biodiversity Advisor
Heath works largely in the biodiversity space alongside community, landowners and other agencies. He supports planning and implementing biodiversity projects across the zone.
Contact Heath if you have a biodiversity project in mind or would like support to identify ways to protect and enhance biodiversity in Kaikōura or on your property.
Iana Stoliarova – Project Delivery Officer
Iana coordinates the Me Uru Rākau Programme and Soil Conservation and Revegetation Programme, working in both biodiversity and soil conservation spaces, alongside land management advisors and biodiversity officers in the Northern zones.
Contact Iana if you would like support or advice around soil erosion, native plantings or protecting the environment on your property or in your community.
Resource management and incident response
Our resource management staff work within local zone delivery and regional teams to provide advice, monitor and respond to resource management enquiries and issues. Find out more about resource management and incident response.
Shannon Wiffen - Resource Management Officer
I am a Resource Management Officer in the Hurunui Waiau Zone team. I predominantly monitor dairy farms but can also assist with other compliance matters in my zone. I also support the wider northern zone (Waimakariri – Kaikōura). Prior to this role I worked in monitoring water metering and data compliance at Environment Canterbury.
Stephen Howard - Senior Resource Management Officer
Stephen supports resource management across North Canterbury.
Garry Husband - Resource Management Officer - Compliance Monitoring (Kaikōura)
Garry is based in Kaikōura to provide advice and assistance to resource consent holders, and to monitor existing consents.
Kiri Kirkwood - Resource Management Officer - Incident Response
Kiri works across North Canterbury, responding to pollution events as an incident response officer.
Contact Kiri if your need advice on permitted activities in regional rules or the Resource Management Act.
Steph Scheirlinck - Resource Management Officer - Incident Response
Steph works across North Canterbury, responding to pollution events as an incident response officer.
Contact Steph if you need advice on permitted activities in regional rules or the Resource Management Act.
steph.scheirlinck@ecan.govt.nz
Water zone committee facilitation
Our water zone committee facilitators support the region's water zone committees to develop actions and tactics to deliver on the Canterbury Water Management Strategy targets. Read more about the water zone committees and what they do.
Murray Griffin – Waimakariri Water Zone Committee Facilitator
Jodie Hoggard - Kaikōura Water Zone Committee Facilitator
From a farming family, Jodie has lived in Kaikōura for a number of years now, working in the environmental and land management space. She previously managed the Kaikōura Plains Recovery Project. Jodie and her family live on a lifestyle block with a well-established riparian/wetland planting project.
Jodie is contracted part-time and is supporting catchment groups in the zone.
Local projects and priorities
We work with landowners, community, groups and other organisations to undertake a number of actions in the zone which support the protection and enhancement of biodiversity, water quality, mahinga kai and more.
- See Hurunui Waiau Uwha's local projects and priorities
- See Kaikōura's local projects and priorities.
Other contacts for northern Canterbury:
Andrew Arps – Zone Manager – andrew.arps@ecan.govt.nz 027 554 4007
Mike Gilliver – Kaikōura Rivers Officer – mike.gilliver@ecan.govt.nz 027 4351 534
Rachel Bjornsson – Kaikōura Advisory Officer – rachel.bjornsson@ecan.govt.nz 03 319 5781
Media - Media enquiries and communications media@ecan.govt.nz 027 221 5259