Kristen Hamling: Park champion blessing to us all

DEDICATION: Allan Anderson has raised $2.5 million.PHOTO/FILE

There is nothing I would rather do than hang out in nature ... mud pies, climbing trees, swinging on vines, falling out of trees and snowball fights. What is not to love about it?

Aside from the pure enjoyment of being in nature, my family seems to gain in other ways.

I notice differences in my husband, my boys and myself after a day out enjoying the natural world - we are content, calm and happy, which leaves us in awesome moods. Nature seems to offer a far more nourishing experience than time in town or a structured park.

And I adore that my boys are just as excited to see a tui, piwakawaka or kereru as they are to see Santa at Christmas. It fills us with joy to see cheeky piwakawaka flitting around our backyard and a kereru stops us in our tracks. It is an experience far more wondrous and meaningful than a day at the zoo.

I worry about the impact the expanding urban sprawl has on our environment and how much access we have to unspoiled nature. So it is just as well Wanganui has a nature protector, and we are truly lucky to have Allan Anderson on "the board of trustees for nature".

Allan is a finalist in the environmental category for the Pride of New Zealand Awards, an initiative that celebrates people who work hard to make their communities a better place to live. His nomination comes from his conservation work for the Bushy Park wildlife reserve.

Since 1996, his fundraising has totalled $2.5 million, including $60,000 for the introduction of hihi, one of the world's rarest birds.

Bushy Park is an amazing place for loads of reasons, but it is particularly thrilling to see saddlebacks, robins and a host of other native birds there. The hihi project has received international support and recognition.

The Pride of New Zealand Awards website says Allan's work includes the building of the pest-proof fence that now rings the park. "Allan single-handedly raised the $1 million which saw the project opened on time, within budget and paid for," his nominator noted.

Allan began volunteering at the park through Forest and Bird in 1962, serving 12 years as Bushy Park Trust chairman. He believes he has been a member of Forest and Bird longer than anyone in New Zealand.

The Whanganui District Health Board member and former district councillor was nominated for an award for being "the driving force in the creation of one of New Zealand's premier fenced sanctuaries for rare native birds".

Those doing their bit for nature deserve accolades. With research showing that more time in nature greatly improves our overall health, cognitive functioning, and sense of wellbeing, we need to do all we can to protect this vital asset.

Allan Anderson's work is as much about wellbeing as it is about native birds. It is impossible to visit Bushy Park and not leave in a better mood.

I want everyone to get online and vote for Allan Anderson in the People's Choice award for the Pride of New Zealand Awards. The People's Choice wins $10,000 for a chosen charity, which Allan has stated he will donate to Bushy Park.

As English writer Samuel Johnson said: "Deviation from nature is deviation from happiness."

We need to do more to stop our modern society deviating from nature, and supporting Allan is one way to do this. The voting takes only a minute, so go online and vote at the website:

www.prideofnzawards.co.nz/peopleschoice/allan-anderson

Good luck, Allan!

-A registered psychologist with a masters in applied psychology, Wanganui mother-of-two Kristen Hamling is studying for a PhD in wellbeing at Auckland University of Technology.