Colin Meurk (born 1947) is a New Zealand ecologist.

Education and academia

Meurk attended high school at

St Andrew's College, Christchurch St Andrew's College, also known as StAC, in Christchurch, New Zealand, is an independent, co-educational school that includes a Pre-school, Preparatory School (Years 1–8) and a Secondary School (Years 9–13). It also provides boarding for b ...

, graduating in 1965. In 1969 he completed a Bachelor of Science at the

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

. Between 1970 and 1981 he completed a doctorate at the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

, with his thesis analysing the production rate of plant biomass in tussock grassland at the southern end of the

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

. In his role as a research fellow at

Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Landcare Research (Māori: Manaaki Whenua) is a New Zealand Crown Research Institute whose focus of research is the environment, biodiversity, and sustainability. The New Zealand Government intends to merge the institute into the New Zealand ...

he assisted in creating landscape models for creating ecological restoration plans across large areas, as well as a project to restore the ecology of the

Waipara Waipara is a wine and tourism district in Canterbury, New Zealand, on the banks of the Waipara River (Canterbury), Waipara River. Its name translates to "muddy water", ''wai'' meaning water and ''para'' meaning mud. It is at the junction of Ne ...

wine-growing region.

Advocacy

Meurk has advocated for improvements to the

urban ecology Urban ecology is the scientific study of the relation of living organisms with each other and their surroundings in an urban environment. An urban environment refers to environments dominated by high-density residential and commercial building ...

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

. He serves as the president of the Travis Wetland trust and was a key figure in securing the wetland as a protected reserve when it was being considered as a location for a housing development in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He is involved with

ecological restoration Ecological restoration, or ecosystem restoration, is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, destroyed or transformed. It is distinct from conservation in that it attempts to retroactively repair ...

projects there and across Christchurch. He has advocated for the creation of a predator free eco-sanctuary within the

residential red zone A residential red zone is any of several areas of land in and around Christchurch, New Zealand, that experienced severe damage in the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, 2010 and 2011 Christchurch earthquakes and were deemed infeasible to rebuild on. Thr ...

, similar to the

Zealandia Zealandia (pronounced ), also known as (Māori language, Māori) or Tasmantis (from Tasman Sea), is an almost entirely submerged continent, submerged mass of continental crust in Oceania that subsided after breaking away from Gondwana 83� ...

project in Wellington. Meurk was instrumental in creating the Christchurch 360 Trail; a walking track that circles Christchurch to demonstrate the wide ecological diversity of the area. In 2021 Meurk was made an Officer of the

New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of New Zealand, Queen of New Zealand, "for th ...

by the

Governor-General of New Zealand The governor-general of New Zealand () is the representative of the monarch of New Zealand, currently King Charles III. As the King is concurrently the monarch of 14 other Commonwealth realms and lives in the United Kingdom, he, on the Advice ...

for services to ecological restoration. In 2022 he ran for a seat on the

Christchurch City Council The Christchurch City Council (CCC) is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Christchurch is Phil Ma ...

in the Fendalton ward, but was not successful.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meurk, Colin 1947 births New Zealand ecologists Living people University of Otago alumni University of Canterbury alumni People educated at St Andrew's College, Christchurch Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit