15 November 2017
QE II National Trust celebrates 40th anniversary and reaches 4,400 covenants
QE II National Trust is celebrating our 40th anniversary and our 4,400th covenant with an event hosted by Trust Patron,
the Rt Hon Dame Patsy Reddy at Government House.
QE II Chair, James Guild says “we are very proud to be celebrating the 40 years of the National Trust and everything the
Trust has achieved. In forty years, the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust has gone from an ambitious and untested
concept to a highly successful and venerable nationwide institution. The Trust’s approach to private land protection is
now a proven formula of cooperative conservation.”
Landowner interest in protecting special areas of land on their properties shows no signs of slowing down. In the last
financial year the National Trust registered 120 covenants covering an area of 2820 ha and approved a further 125
covenants comprising 3788 ha.
QE II National Trust CEO Mike Jebson says “we are on track for a similar result this year and very recently registered
our 4,400th covenant over 11 hectares of an important and increasingly rare salt marsh in Otago. Owners of our 4,400th
covenant, Gary and Judith Shields, have travelled from Otago to be with us today. Their efforts epitomise the commitment
of many of our land owners. They purchased this site with the intention of protecting it.”
Mike Jebson says “we are very proud of our partnership with landowners like Gary and Judith Shields and the network of
open space covenants that we have established together.”
With the first forty years of accomplishments to build on, the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust is uniquely placed to
launch a new era of private land protection.
James Guild says “we have the proven history, the specialist skills, the groundswell of support and the commitment to
help protect our natural and cultural heritage not just for the next forty years, but in perpetuity.”
ENDS