Her voice against the mines

Frustration over Government proposals has prompted the face of the Department of Conservation, Nicola Vallance, to pack away her polar fleece and find a new platform for her environmental concerns. Shane Gilchrist reports.

Those who have rubbed shoulders with Nicola Vallance might agree with the suggestion - her own, by the way - that she possesses a "bolshie" streak, a peak-decibel level louder than most, and a passion to protect our wild things and even wilder places.

• Digging in for conservation land battle

Ms Vallance has worked for the Department of Conservation for the past seven years, most recently as its national media adviser. In that role she has served as a high-profile advocate for our environment and the creatures that inhabit it.

She has appeared regularly on TVNZ's Good Morning breakfast show, researched, written and presented more than 200 episodes of the Meet the Locals series for TVNZ 6, written blogs, popped up in a range of interviews, and even escorted Prince William (an avid conservationist, apparently) on a bushwalk in January. She could be described as the "face" of Doc.

Until today, that is.

Ms Vallance has quit.

A current of feeling that once moved a child to bring home cockabullies and caterpillars has been swept to the surface by a feeling of unease, anger even, over the Government's investigation into allowing access to minerals in parts of the conservation estate.

The areas, currently protected under schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act because of their ecological and scenic values, include 14 national parks as well as the Coromandel Forest Park.

However, the Government plans to release a document at the end of this month which opponents fear may relax access rules. Under the microscope are gold deposits in the Coromandel and minerals such as tungsten, tin and copper in the South Island's Kahurangi and Mt Aspiring national parks.

Yes, there are other reasons why the 32-year-old has packed away Doc's trademark khaki polar fleece and "stubbies" shorts: a job with Forest and Bird provides a fresh challenge as well as the chance to return to her beloved South Island, family and friends. But the schedule 4 discussion document, first mooted late last year by Minister of Energy and Resources Gerry Brownlee, was the "clincher".

Don't get her started? It's more a case of getting her to stop. Still, Ms Vallance would be the first to say she's not shy of a few words.

"In my seven years in Doc, and having had the privilege of travelling to some of our wildest places while filming Meet the Locals, I've seen how much our native wildlife is struggling to survive - and I've also met some of the thousands of volunteers, businesspeople, scientists and families all out getting their hands dirty trying to protect what they know is special.