Following a passion for conservation

Meet Thomas Clague, one of our Working Bee Coordinators at Te Hononga a Iwi. He brings with him a passion for conservation and a love of sharing knowledge.

Before joining Te Hononga a Iwi, Thomas spent more than 10 years working in residential carpentry, an area he found highly fulfilling and from which he learnt many useful skills! After this, he decided he wanted to put his full energy into conservation and working with the environment, not just the odd volunteering hour he was doing here and there.

“I wanted to contribute my time and effort into an area that frankly needs the most support – conservation. In a changing climate and stressful economic times, the future of conservation is uncertain,” explains Thomas.

Today, alongside his role at Rosedale Park, Thomas is studying Environmental Science. He enjoys leading Working Bees and helping volunteers learn about the environment, finding that teaching others is one of the best ways to strengthen his own understanding.

The values of Te Hononga a Iwi closely align with Thomas’s own passion for restoring degraded landscapes, increasing biodiversity, and building resilience in the face of climate change. Through his work, he contributes directly to these goals, particularly through pest-predator trapping.

Not only is trapping like going on a mini version of a hike (one of his favourite hobbies), but it’s the impact of the work that motivates him the most.

“To protect vulnerable Indigenous species from predation by invasive predators is what I particularly love and is why I continue doing it.”