SEA has been working to protect Wellington’s natural environment for more than 30 years.
“A healthy native forest and wetland habitat supporting abundant and diverse native flora and fauna, providing a community asset that is valued by both local residents and visitors.”
– SEA’s vision for Tawatawa Reserve
The Southern Environmental Association (SEA) was set up in 1992 with the aim of protecting those parts of Wellington’s environment that were under threat, and that deserved permanent protection for the benefit of the community, particularly in South Wellington.
Wellington lawyer and environmentalist Robert Logan was the driving force behind it, and it became an incorporated society in 1994.
SEA’s first campaigns were to save the skyline and bush areas to the west of Island Bay, to stop quarrying at Ōwhiro Bay and create a new coastal reserve, and to clean up Ōwhiro Bay where raw sewage had discharged for many years.
These campaigns were very successful and led the members to start growing native plants in 1995 for the areas that had been protected. SEA was also involved with saving bush remnants from development at Long Gully and in Island Bay.
Although lobbying by SEA to set aside Tawatawa as a scenic reserve started in the 1990s, it wasn’t until 2009 that the area was gazetted as a reserve.
SEA now has a guardianship role at Tawatawa Reserve, and works with Wellington City Council to restore it. It also works closely with other environmental groups in the area, of which there are many!
The current SEA committee members are:
- Chairperson – Annie Yeates, sea.chairperson@gmail.com, 0274 400 129
- Secretary – Naushyn Janah, sea.hon.secretary@gmail.com
- Treasurer – Susan Yorke, sea.hon.treasurer@gmail.com
- Nursery Manager – Gona Pandian
- Committee Members – Jina Sagar, Gerry Bellam, Trish Knaggs, JoElle Gragilla
Tawatawa Reserve 