Bruce worked at Invermay in the 1980s then at Mt Linton Station for a few years. That was followed by 16 years at DOC, advising Area staff with their pest management programmes. More recently Bruce has worked as a fisheries observer and pest contractor. Bruce has been working for OPBG since 2012, doing both possum control and possum monitoring (follow-up trapping to measure possum abundance).

Marcia Dale is an ecologist and artist who lives right at the start of the Peninsula in Andersons Bay. She has been involved with the trust since she helped set up the bird monitoring in 2011. She joined the team as a staff member in 2019 and oversees the Sector 5 Guardians. Her previous roles have included track building at DOC, field technician at Landcare Research, Yellow Eyed Penguin guide at Penguin Place and terrestrial ecologist at Ryder Consulting. She used to have many interests but now she just thinks about possums all the time.

Maggie has recently joined our team as the new community coordinator. She was previously volunteering with us while working as a neurobiology researcher and science communicator at the University of Otago. Even though this is her first official job in conservation, she has been involved with several conservation efforts as a volunteer for over a decade, including predator trapping in Wanaka, hoiho and pakake work here on the Otago Peninsula, and kakapo work on predator-free Codfish and Anchor Islands. Maggie is passionate about wildlife and wild places and spends almost all her free time hiking and running around the peninsula, so she knows it intimately and cares for it deeply. She is also well connected to the local community since she lives right here in Portobello, where she is raising her young boy.

Ben joined the OPBG team coming from a background with extensive experience in pest control and local knowledge of the Otago Peninsula. This includes two years of pest control work throughout the lower South Island as well as the planning and implementation of Penguin Place’s predator control operations. Alongside his experience with volunteer groups, he also worked for two tourism companies based on the Otago Peninsula, introducing the public to some of New Zealand’s most endangered animals in a safe, informative and accurate manner. Ben is driven by a passion for conservation and a genuine love of the outdoors. When not working you are likely to find him in the Otago high country, fur trapping, hunting or photographing wildlife.

Lisa Campbell, a resident of the Otago Peninsula, has recently joined the group as a Trap Network Technician. She and her family returned to Dunedin this year after living on a tropical Torres Strait Island in North Queensland. Here, Lisa's volunteer group "Cane Toad Busting" eradicated 5000+ invasive Cane Toads from the island over a 3-year period. She is looking forward to getting out on the field, and using her eradication experience to work towards achieving a possum free Otago Peninsula.

Lou is one of OPBG’s newest recruits. Originally from Dargaville, Lou moved to Dunedin and studied ecology at Otago University after working numerous jobs around the country - mainly horticultural roles. He has also done DOC volunteer work - track maintenance and trap checking. Having a deep interest in the workings of nature has directed Lou towards ecology and conservation, being a part of this team that helps preserve fellow Earthling natives. For an outdoorsy-nature person, what better place to work at and care for than the Otago Peninsula?