Associate Professor Mike Hilton has  been awarded a New Zealand honour and is now a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

He has received the award for a lifetime service to conservation.

He has made significant contributions to coastal management in New Zealand, especially in his area of expertise in sand dune restoration.

It would be hard to find a dune field in New Zealand that he has not visited, and he has developed a classification of those of National Significance.

His work on Stewart Island has done much to preserve the last remaining West Coast transgressive dune system in New Zealand. The methods he has helped develop for weed management have become the template for the rest of the country.

He has more than 50 publications on dune restoration and processes, has freely shared his knowledge in public meetings and talks, and has involved students and volunteers in his field work.  Making this award well deserved.

He is currently a visiting fellow at Melbourne University, working with Dr Teresa Konlechner researching the local dunes on Philip Island.

Associate Professor Mike Hilton and Dr Teresa Konlechner setting up an anemometer at Phillip Island.