The Styx Staff

Senior Management

Bethany's project manages the delivery of the Trust's conservation projects, leads the Trust's strategic/policy work and runs the Christine Heremaia Field Centre. Bethany is the key point of contact for the Trust and supports our General Trust Staff, Volunteers and Portfolios. Bethany comes from a conservation/environmental science background and has been with the Trust working in the Pūharakekenui for the past five years. Bethany enjoys the diversity that the role offers from helping establish urban national reserves to attempting to locate pekapeka-tou-roa (long-tailed bats). Outside of work Bethany is a keen kayaker and surfer. 

Senior Management

Anita is in charge of the Pūharakekenui Freshwater Improvement Project. Anita is the main point of contact for the Project and also leads the Project Control Group. Anita's background is in ecology and threatened species management. Anita worked at the Department of Conservation as a Senior Biodiversity Ranger before joining our team. Anita is also on the regional committee for BirdsNZ and in her spare time contributes to the NZ Bird Atlas scheme and enjoys tramping. 

Jackie leads our community engagement and outreach for the Pūharakekenui Freshwater Fund Project. This includes working with landowners, businesses and managing our volunteers for the Project. Originally from the United States, her background is in biodiversity education, conservation, and outreach. In her free time she enjoys hiking and exploring the outdoors with her whanau.

Hannah facilitates and develops the Creative Communicator Programme as part of the Pūharakekenui Freshwater Improvement Fund Project: securing, coordinating, connecting and facilitating artists.  Hannah has been working with the Trust since 2020, initially as interim Project Manager to see the Pūharakekenui Freshwater Improvement Fund Project come to life, passing the reins of this to Anita. She comes from a varied background with a Masters in Fine Arts, and in her mahi outside of the Styx she is a lecturer, contract project manager, does business development for both a brewery and a distillery, and sits on a number of governance boards. Outside of 'work' Hannah likes to spend time with her dog, and visit her whānau on Rakiura/Stewart Island.

Gareth manages our Field Staff Team for the  Pūharakekenui Freshwater Improvement Fund Project. Gareth has extensive experience working in farming, forestry, lifestyle blocks, construction, and conservation, and has planted many of the natives throughout the Pūharakekenui and Christchurch. He can often be heard saying, “I think I was involved in the planting of this site” when driving throughout the catchment. Gareth finds revegetation projects very fulfilling and is pleased to be a member of the Styx Living Laboratory Trust team. In Gareth’s free time he enjoys hunting and going for bush walks.

Finn is our Senior Field Staff for the Pūharakekenui Freshwater Improvement Fund Project. Finn has recently returned home to Christchurch after spending two years in Wellington doing Landscape Gardening. Having studied geography and river science in Otago, he is excited to help beautify and naturalise the Styx River Catchment. In his spare time you can find him on the beach or up in the mountains. 

Maddie is one of our Field Staff Intermediates (Rangers) for the Pūharakekenui Freshwater Improvement Fund Project. She has a background in horticulture and landscaping. In her free time she enjoys surfing and travelling. 

Hugh is one of our Field Staff Intermediates (Rangers) for the Pūharakekenui Freshwater Improvement Fund Project. He has a passion for the outdoors and is excited to have the opportunity to look after New Zealand's beautiful natural landscape through the Trust. Hugh is also the father of three young children and is looking forward to bringing them to the sites he's worked on to see the progress in the years to come. 

Loren is one of our Field Staff Intermediates (Rangers) for the Pūharakekenui Freshwater Improvement Fund Project. Before joining our team, Loren was working in the area as a Christchurch City Council park ranger and is excited to continue contributing to the restoration of the Styx catchment. In her spare time, Loren enjoys hiking, hunting and swears by the philosophy that you never regret a swim.

Hana is one of our Field Staff Intermediates (Rangers) for the Pūharakekenui Freshwater Improvement Fund Project. Before joining the Trust, Hana was working as a park ranger for the Christchurch City Council. She studied biology and environmental science at the University of Canterbury. In her spare time she enjoys swimming, playing softball, netball, and pottering around in her garden.

Tim J. Veling is a photographer and artist living in Ōtautahi Christchurch. He is a Senior Lecturer in Photography at the University of Canterbury, Ilam School of Fine Arts and Director of Place in Time: The Christchurch Documentary Project. The cornerstones of Tim’s practice are the social-political and built environments, with particular emphaisis on tracking Otautahi Christchurch during a time of rapid change. Tim has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally, and in 2021 received a Creative New Zealand Arts Grant to publish his book, ‘D,P,O’ in collaboration with XYZ Books, Lisbon, Portugal.

Bridget Allen is an environmental artist who lives in Christchurch. During her time as creative communicator, she has painted a large-scale mural of the some of the endangered aqua life of the Pūharakekenui and created dry point etching postcards of the different ecological areas with the river catchment.  The paper of the prints are dyed with inks made from plants within the catchment. The prints explore the relationship between introduced and indigenous plants. The endeavor of these works is to bring awareness to the ecology within the river catchment.

Dr. Jo Burzynska is a multisensory artist working across sonic, olfactory and edible art. As Creative Communicator, she is tuning into nonvisual natural and cultural elements of the catchment – from the sounds of life beneath the surface of its waterways, to the scents she is distilling from its plants with local rongoa practitioners. These interactions are being used to create a sensory map of the Pūharakekenui, which will be incorporated as a layer in the current SLLT-Lincoln University mapping project.

Aaron is an intern who helps out with our field work and advocacy projects. He studies invasive waterway plants at the University of Canterbury, and got involved with the Trust to make a practical difference for the local environment. In his free time, you can find him off lost up a hill somewhere.