Advocates for the Tongariro River Committee
Gary Brown
Immediate Past Chair, member since 2011
Gary’s family has an association that has lasted over a half century with the Lake Taupo fishery and he has had a life-long interest in hunting and fishing. Gary’s prime focus as a committee member is therefore the state of the fishery and monitoring the effectiveness of the Department of Conservation’s Taupo Sports Fishery Plan.
Gary lives in New Plymouth and is a retired architect.
Carl Bergstrom
Committee member
Carl has been a regular visitor to Turangi and the surrounding area for over 35 years, and first learnt to fly fish on the Tongariro River. Now retired after a corporate career, he has more time for fishing, and is passionate about preserving this pristine and world renowned river so that future generations may enjoy it too.
Virginia Church
Member since 2011
Virginia’s 2001 Petition to Parliament on the plight of the Tongariro, was supported by 602 signatures. This, and the Submission based on that Petition that was presented in 2002 to the Parliamentary Select Committee for Local Government and the Environment, was the catalyst for formation of the Advocates as an incorporated society.
After living in Australia, Virginia and her family have returned to Turangi where they have very close hapu associations with local iwi.
Sam Coxhead
Deputy Chairperson, member since 2014
Sam has been coming to Turangi for the last 20 odd years. He is a keen angler, who relishes any time he can spend on the river.
Sam and his large young family now have a home in Turangi. It has become more important for him to help with the responsibilities of looking after the river.
Sam wants to help ensure that the fishery, and river environment as a whole, is looked after so the future generations are able to enjoy all it has to offer.
Mike Forret
Member since 2017
Mike Forret has been a keen angler for more than twenty years. He enjoys coming to the Tongariro and Turangi whenever he can and is very supportive of the Advocates aims.
Mike retired from the University of Waikato in 2016 where he worked in science and technology education for over twenty years. His main involvement with the Advocates has been provision, maintenance and support of the Advocates' website and membership database through his web services company iConcept Enterprises Ltd.
Richard Kemp
Deputy Chairperson, member since 2002
A Wellingtonian, Richard has been coming to Turangi to fish all his life - as has his father before him and his son after him. He has a passion for the fishery and a particular interest in its sustainability.
Richard served as Vice-President from 2006-2010 and has been the Advocate’s legal advisor throughout. He is the current Advocate’s representative on the Taupo Fishery Advisory Committee.
As a lawyer, Richard’s networks have been invaluable in helping to profile the Advocates and successfully source funds from philanthropic sources.
Alisdair Keucke
Member since 2018
Alisdair Keucke retired to Turangi from Auckland in 2015 after a career in manufacturing and electrical engineering. The third generation of an old Raetihi family he recalls holidaying as a child in one of the only two bachs in Kuratau in the 1950’s. His father was a keen fly fisherman. Alisdair describes himself as a mere beginner.
Alisdair always had a keen interest in the environment and is primarily interested in the conservation of the Tongariro River and its environs. He had 10 years’ experience co-chairing Auckland’s Little Shoal Bay Action Committee, which resulted in North Shore City Council buying back reserve land sold to developers, to preserve it as a reserve and protected wetland.
John Martin
Member since 2018
John is the strategic advisor to The Whiskey Project Group (Aust), Ltd, an independent director on the board of Statistics New Zealand, the Executive Director of the New Zealand Ocean Foundation, sits on various groups including the leadership assessment panel for Blake NZ and the editorial board of the RNZN Professional Journal.
He consults on governance and strategy to government agencies and coaches senior leaders.
Julian Proctor
Member since 2018
My father fished the Taupo area in the late 1940's after returning to NZ and started me fishing there in 1954 and built a house in Turangi in 1960. I have fished all of the rivers in the Taupo area and most of the stream mouths but my love has always been the Tongariro river.
I have been a member of TALTAC since I started fishing in Turangi and am now a committee member of the Advocates.
I love all types of fishing and still do a lot of shooting.
I retired in 2016 and now spend as much time as possible in Turangi.
Bridget Sullivan
Member since 2023
I have been coming to the Tongariro River since the mid-1970s, staying in our family bach in Pukawa. I support the goals of the Advocates and am
particularly interested in the river flows and their management, and the impact that has on the health of the river and the future of the fishery. I spend as many hours as I can flyfishing the Tongariro and enjoying the river community. I am from Taranaki, work in regional investment and Maori economic development. I serve on several Trusts including Tiaki te Mauri o Parininihi, a conservation trust for Ngati Tama’s whenua.
John Toogood
Treasurer, Member since 2005
John and his family have been coming to the area and enjoying the Tongariro for over five decades. A keen environmentalist at heart, John has led the Advocates’ campaign to ‘bring back the bush’ and rid the river environs of wilding pines and other weeds. His work, supported by Eric Wilson and former Committee member Marja ter Haar, was recognised in 2010 when the Advocates received Environment Waikato’s Weedbusters’ Award.
John runs his own business in Wellington and his commercial skills are of benefit to the Advocates also, especially with regards to marketing.
Eric Wilson
Secretary, since 2005
Eric was a community appointee to Waikato Regional Council’s Lake Taupo Liaison Zone Committee until it ceased as a committee late 2019, and a key local liaison person within the Turangi community.
Eric has been a local Turangi resident for the past 45 years and is a former Principal of Tongariro High School.
Eric enjoys the outdoor environment of the wider Tongariro Catchment.
Updated March 2023