Les Hutchins Conservation Trust

He was a key member of what is  widely regarded as the start of New Zealand’s conservation movement - the successful Save Manapouri Campaign - which stopped the raising of Lakes Te Anau and Manapouri for power generation. As the small tourism company, he founded (with Olive, Lady Hutchins), began to expand, they  started directing some of the profits into conservation work.

In 1973, Les was named one of the founding Guardians of the Lakes, a position he held for 26 years. He spent 12 years on the New Zealand Conservation Authority and was a founding patron of the New Zealand National Parks and Conservation Foundation.

Les was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) in 1998 and was made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (the non-titular equivalent  of a knighthood) in 2002 for his services to tourism and conservation.  In 2011, he was posthumously inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame.

The small private tourism company he founded in 1954 is  now the RealNZ group of tourism and ski companies (Real Journeys, Go Orange, Cardrona & Treble Cone and the International Antarctic Centre).

The charitable trust Les began in 1994, with a generous initial donation, continues to receive an annual contribution from Real Journeys, as a levy collected from every Doubtful Sound visitor.