Grant Dodson (Chair) is the Chief Executive of City Forests Limited, current Chairman of the Southern Wood Council and is a member of the Forest Owners Association Executive and a Board member of Forest Growers Research Ltd. Grant has an extensive background in land management and recreational hunting in New Zealand and Australia. He shares a passion for the outdoors, hunting and shooting sports and is an advocate for future generations of New Zealanders.
Steve McFall is a Past President and life member of the Te Kuiti Pig Hunting Club and has given considerable time to supporting pig hunting including as an inaugural member of the NZGAC. Steve currently serves on the NZPHA national executive. Having been involved in judging competitions since 2001 Steve was a founding member of the Ridgeline Judging System. Steve also represented pig hunters at a government-led 1080 hui in Kaikoura in 2005. Steve spent 20 years managing dry stock farms and is a trustee and Past President of the Oparau Station Trust. Steve and wife Marilyn are now directors of their own septic tank cleaning business.
Sharon Salmons is based in Queenstown and is a self employed business/marketing consultant specialising in tourism and outdoor activities. She has been secretary for the NZDA Southern Lakes Branch since 2012 and also sits on a number of outdoor related committee groups. She is a keen hunter and tramper and brings marketing and tourism skills to the council. Sharon has experience and a strong commitment to good communication/education on all hunting aspects in particular access and the more complicated bureaucratic issues.
John Cook has been a self-employed dairy farmer for the last 35 years and is the current President of the Central North Island Sika Foundation. He is a keen recreational hunter of deer and pigs, and has enjoyed getting into bow hunting over the last 5 years. John sees both game animals and the environment as resources that, if managed correctly, can be there for future generations to hunt and enjoy.
Erin Garrick has a science background in agriculture and wildlife management. She has been a keen recreational hunter for over 20 years, including a decade living and hunting in the Rocky Mountains. Most recently Erin was as a Field Officer at Southland Fish and Game, where she particularly enjoyed working with farmers in development of wetland habitat. She is passionate about habitat, harvest and food gathering, and encouraging others to get out and enjoy our backyard.
Bruce Warburton is a science team leader of the Wildlife, Ecology and Management team at Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research. He has been involved in research for over 40 years related to the improved management of New Zealand’s introduced vertebrates. He has a keen passion for New Zealand’s environment and has been a recreational hunter for many years, mainly with a rifle, but occasionally with his bow. He also enjoys trout fishing and sharing the outdoors with others.
Eugene Rewi (Ngāti Manawa, Ngāti Whare, Ngāti Rangiwewehi, Ngāti Ranginui) is passionate about improving health outcomes for Māori and currently works at Te Aka Whai Ora: Māori Health Authority. His interests include whānau, travel and he enjoys many forms of mahi kai, especially hunting, fishing and diving.
Kevin Eastwood has been involved in the university and research community for the last 10 years as a relationship manager. He is keen to see more young people in the outdoors making use of our fabulous environments and all of the benefits that come with this. A self-employed environmental and freshwater consultant in his day-to-day life he enjoys working with communities to help them realise a potential that fits their vision. Kevin sees hunting as an opportunity to work hand-in-hand with looking after the environment and the people who enjoy our surroundings.
Tui Keenan (Ngāti Porou) is a Māmā to 5 girls and lives in Tūranganui a Kiwa (Gisborne). In 2018 she was introduced to hunting by her husband Comrie and is now a strong advocate for connecting communities to the land and their food source. The start of her hunting journey was documented on Maori Television show ‘Hunting with Tui’. Her journey hasn’t stopped as she continues to pass on the matauranga (knowledge) she has received on this journey. Tui is a director of Kaiwhakangau™ (hunter) Connect and Kai Connect where she supports communities to connect with other hunters/farmers and helps to distribute MPI certified wild meat to various community groups, schools and foodbanks.
Peter Swann (Ngāti Porou, Rongowhakaata East Coast, Tairāwhiti, Tūranganui a Kiwa) has a passion for Āotearoa’s outdoors and with over 40 years as a hunter gatherer, putting kai on the table for whānau, friends, or those in need, as well as working to ensure sustainable hunting for future generations, has always been his primary motivation. As a past president of the Poverty Bay East Coast Pig Hunters Club, and a current NZDA member, he also manages the hunter-led ROMA conservation project for the Mangaotane Trust in the southern Raukumara Range. ROMA’s mission revolves around protecting native flora and fauna and connecting people to the whenua through mahinga kai. Peter is also a member of the Mates of Tairāwhiti work place suicide prevention programme which enables life supporting conversations in the workplace.
General Manager

Next meeting of the Game Animal Council
TBC