CODC parks officer wins prestigious scholarship
Central Otago District Council Parks Officer Maria Burnett has been awarded the New Zealand Parks Leaders Forum emerging leader’s scholarship for 2024.
The news comes hard on the heels of a huge week where Ms Burnett (pictured), along with Sport Otago, co-led the national wellbeing initiative Parks Week 2024 in Central Otago, with various events held in the district’s parks and reserves from 2-10 March.
A graduate from Otago University in 2020 (Bachelor of Science), and Massey University in 2021 (Postgraduate Certificate in Planning), Ms Burnett has been with CODC since March 2023 as a parks officer.
In her citation from the NZ Parks Leaders Forum, her mentors said that despite being so new to parks, Ms Burnett had already made a substantial leadership contribution at the national level through her work on Recreational Aotearoa’s Generate committee as conference lead and shown a strong commitment to leadership through undertaking Toastmasters training and other voluntary work. Her referees all described her as having “an enormous thirst for knowledge and eagerness to learn about the parks sector – an ideal scholarship recipient”.
Ms Burnett plans to use the scholarship grant to attend the Future Green City World Congress in Utrecht, Netherlands in September this year, and will also be seeking other external funding to help cover other costs. The Netherlands has an advanced culture of outdoor living in communities and presented many opportunities to learn from and bring back ideas, she said.
“I’m so pleased and honoured with the recognition and intend to use every opportunity to promote our parks and open spaces as a crucial part of our society.
“They heavily influence what makes a place liveable. We already know parks and open spaces impact health and wellbeing by providing opportunities for recreation and leisure and by contributing to social cohesion and identity.”
However, the role of parks was much more extensive than people realised, she said.
“Parks provide spaces for biodiversity to thrive, places for people to spend time outside, especially in densely populated cities – did you know that having a park can reduce the temperature of an urban area by several degrees?
“They also provide spaces for civil defence response such as flooding or earthquakes where people have a safe place to gather and congregate.”
Ms Burnett believed that parks were having “their time in the sun”.
“They’re now being recognised as powerful tool for responding to increasing populations and reacting to climate change impacts. Not only this, but there is also growing evidence that parks can strengthen local economies. I am excited to learn how other countries are planning for the future of parks and apply that knowledge to our unique part of the world. We can’t plan for future of a town in New Zealand by copying a city in Europe, but we do have an opportunity to learn from the rest of the world’s mistakes and successes.”
The scholarship provided an opportunity to ensure that places like Central Otago, Queenstown and Southland were considered in conversations that are happening at a national level in Aotearoa’s Parks Industry, she said.
“New Zealand is made up of many unique districts and when we are planning for the future of the parks and open spaces in these districts, we need to reflect this uniqueness, while ensuring we are not missing any opportunities to learn from other places around the country and the rest of the world.”
CODC Parks and Recreation Manager Gordon Bailey was thrilled that Ms Burnett had received this recognition.
“In the past year since being with us at Council, Maria has made an enthusiastic contribution to the parks team and is truly passionate about parks and open spaces. The scholarship is an ideal opportunity to continue developing and contributing her skills in the parks sector.”
CODC Group Manager Community Experience David Scoones said since joining the team she had driven key projects such as the recent Omakau and Ophir Reserve Management Plan, and the new Open Spaces Naming Policy.
“She’s connected in and reinvigorated community groups and is currently in the process of developing Central Otago’s Open Spaces Strategy, a strategy that will help define how residents and visitors make the most of our epic open spaces around Central Otago.
“It’s fantastic that Maria has chosen Central Otago District Council as her place to let her career blossom and this scholarship is recognition of her potential.”
