Two directors have been elected to the Board of the Queen Elizabeth the Second National Trust by members of the Trust.

"We are pleased to welcome James Hunter back to the Board and Dr Megan Balks from Waikato as a new director," said Sir Brian Lochore, Chairperson of QEII Trust.

"This is James Hunter's second term on the Board," he said. "James is a sheep and beef farmer from Porangahau and has previously been a councillor on the Central Hawke's Bay District Council. He has a covenant on his farm protecting 42 hectares of bush to which a 10ha wetland is being added. James is a strong believer in the QEII Trust ethos of voluntary protection.

"Megan Balks has over 20 years of teaching and research experience in soil and environmental sciences at Waikato University. Originally from a Wairarapa sheep farm where her father established an early QEII covenant, she and her husband Errol Balks, a land surveyor, have a small sheep farm on Mount Pirongia with 23 hectares of lowland forest remnants protected with QEII covenants," said Sir Brian.

QEII National Trust is the leading organisation involved in landscape and biodiversity protection on private land in New Zealand. The Trust has 3,300 registered covenants (legal agreements) protecting 93,500 hectares of New Zealand's natural and cultural features in perpetuity.

The purpose of QEII Trust is to encourage and promote the provision, protection and enhancement of open space for the benefit and enjoyment of the people of New Zealand.

An open space covenant is a legal agreement between QEII Trust and a landowner to protect an identified feature or site. Covenants protect a variety of open spaces and biodiversity, including indigenous forests, shrublands, wetlands, threatened species habitats, lakes, coastlines, tussock grasslands, rural landscapes, archaeological sites and geological formations.

The Trust also helps by contributing funds for covenant projects such as fencing and advising landowners on managing their covenants.