The giveaway is now closed. The lucky winner is Keri Hulme. Thanks for your comments everyone.
We’re celebrating New Zealand’s unique and diverse trees and forests today by giving away a copy of the brand new book New Zealand’s Native Trees, by John Dawson and Rob Lucas.
(A big thanks to Craig Potton publishing for providing this amazing giveaway!)

Dylan Sherwood from Unity Books, Jane Connor from Craig Potton Publishing, the Hon. Kate Wilkinson, Minister of Conservation, and author John Dawson
The native flora of New Zealand really is unique – 80% of our trees, ferns and flowering plants are found nowhere else on Earth. New Zealand’s Native Trees, launched in Conservation Week by the Hon. Kate Wilkinson, is a celebration of this.
With 576 pages, and more than 2300 photographs, it’s bound to become a loved and well used resource in your home. I’m already a little jealous of whoever wins a copy!
To be in to win, leave a comment on this post before 12 noon, Monday 10 October 2011, telling us why you want the book. A winner will be selected at random and contacted by email.
The giveaway is open to all New Zealand residents, except employees of the Department of Conservation and their immediate family.
Good luck!
New Zealand’s Native Trees is valued at $120 and is available to purchase from bookstores nationwide and online from www.craigpotton.co.nz.
John Dawson is a lovely guy and this is a great book. I hope you guys give it to someone who will really appreciate it. Congrats John – supreme book.
I was fascinated by New Zealand’s native trees and the vegetarian ecology- I hope this gorgeous book will help conserve them (can you bring back the Moaby genetic engineering?).
I would like it to give to the family of a DOC employee recently made redundant, who is disqualified from winning it himself!
This book looks incredible. The photography alone makes me wants copy. Nature photography really interests me. If I don’t win, I might have to buy a copy anyway!
I’d give the book to Keri Hulme.
We live in Christchurch where gardens are full of rhododendrons, camelias, roses and other introduced plants and my wife, a very keen gardener has books on all of these. I’d like to redress this imbalance by introducing to my family and friends the NZ native trees of my childhood as so wonderfully presented in this book. With so many vacant lots in Christchurch it would be nice to see some of these beauties come back to town.
I want to know more about the trees and plants around me
I moved to NZ five years ago and have wanted a book about native trees and plants since I first went tramping in this beautiful place.
I love all things native to New Zealand
I agree with Catherine, and would add that NZ is definitely the best country in the world. I live in Australia, but subscribe to Forest and Bird, NZ, and one day will come back to live in ‘the land of the long white cloud’
i love New Zealand
I work in a native plant nursery propagating,potting and keeping these babies alive. I see these plants in their nappies through to maybe adolescence but don’t see them in their majestic prime in the bush very often. I would love a copy of this book to see and understand what our wee seedlings can grow into in our magnificent wilderness.
I’m lucky enough to live in a place surrounded by bush and trees, but as I come from the UK, I don’t which are native or which are pests. My tree knowledge consists only of ‘tall tree’, ‘tree with droopy leaves’, ‘tree that the tuis like’. I need some help 🙂
I would love this book because I am passionate about conservation and the environment. This book would help me to promote to my friends and family the necessity of looking after our beautiful flora and fauna. To be able to admire the beauty of what we have and work to being able to keep it.
I’m currently studing environmental sciences and I’m particularly interested in conservation. I have done a couple of terrestrial ecology papers this year and was quite proud of myself when I could go on bush walks and identify some of the different trees. It would be great to have a reference book for all New Zealand trees!
HI there, I would love a copy of this book as I am a tour guide and always looking for new information. I spend a fortune on books a year and to get one for free would be just great!!! Kia ora Lu Tyree
How heartening it is to see so many people passionate about our trees. If my name comes out of the draw I would like to gift it to Fiona Clark for her 10 year old daughter.
I would love a copy of the book as I am doing botany papers at uni at the moment and as being a poor student wouldnt be able to afford it. It also looks as though it has a wonderful layout
I would love a copy of New Zealand’s native trees. Two reasons; it will go very well on the library of our conservation group ‘Friends of Flora’, and for our business ‘Bush and Beyond Guided Walks’, as we use these for our clients as reference points and/or study.
I’d love to win this book so it can be used as a great resource for our community and Project Twin Streams!
As we are just started planting native trees in a unproductive gully this book would help following generations identify what trees have already been planted
I am on the board of Trustees of the Stewart Island/ Rakiura Community & Environment Trust (SIRCET), responsible for environmental education and community outreach. This would would be an amazing asset to our charitable trust, and would be made available to the local and visiting school groups who we host, and the staff and volunteers at our local SIRCET/ DOC community native plant nursery. We coordinate community led conservation and habitat restoration projects on the island, and really value these types of resources to enhance our own knowledge, and to share it with visitors.
I have seen this book in shops and it looks amazing. I used John and Rob’s “Nature Guide to NZ Forests” throughout my days at university and would love to own a copy of this book and be able to tell all my future students at school what the trees are around our local area and encourage them to plant more natives!
I would love this book as I work as a guide on Kapiti Island and am still looking for the perfect book about Native Trees! And I can pass on more knowledge to the visitors!
A beautiful book, and an invaluable resource for whoever is lucky enough to be drawn. I have crossed my fingers for myself! 🙂
I would Iove to have this book. We go tramping each week and so often I do not not recognise the trees – we emigrated here from UK 7 yearsago and are so keen to get to know the flora and fauna of NZ. My husband has already documented all our tramps for the Tramping Club (complete with GPS references) and published several books but more knowledge of trees, etc would enhance his reports.
Hi there,
I would love to have this book to find out more about Native Trees, where to grow, what to do and hopefully to learn which birds love which Native trees.How can I help to grow more Native Trees!
Cheers
Christiane
Hi,
This book would be a very good opportunity to show my daughters how beautiful New Zealand is. We moved here from europe so we don’t know lot about NZ’s native plants yet.
Respect for the DoC for the constant effort!
Cheers,
P
Hi I would like to put my name forward to recive a copy of this very nice book.Should I be lucky enough to get one It would be a wounderfull teaching aid for all my grandchildren.I do have a very small area of some native ferns and some trees I am trying to return to its former state.Take care, Dave.
I have bought the book and was very impressed. The only thing wrong was the names had no authorities
mark from the bay, if the ocean environment is stained by the ship hitting Astrolab reef, i’ll be spending more time in the bush so looking up at naive trees and wondering what they are, wont be a prob because i’ll have the best NZ native trees reference book!
thanks!
How wonderful would it be to visit the New Zealand bush and forests from the comfort of my lounge. But it will be even better if I could identify the native flora when I do eventually go for real.
I have been building a library for whanau for over 50 years. It is heavily oriented to ANZ materia-
I cant afford to buy this book but- it could into the minds and hands
*and* hearts of many future ANZers- no reira, he mihi koa ki a koutou katoa n/n Keri
I have two sons involved in research on native species of Aotearoa/NZ. My eldest is involved in ancient DNA research and has worked on kakariki and moa. His birthday was in September so John’s new book was an ideal birthday present. I bit the bullet and bought him the deluxe version. My younger son works in the field undertaking cutting edge research on a variety of our native birds. His birthday is not until February. I am saving to give him a copy of the book as well. That way, neither son will come home and want to borrow my books on native trees. As for me, I might have to wait a while for my own copy!
Hi, looks like a great book with which to educate the family, there’s nothing more frustrating that not being able to answer the kids appeals of “What’s this one called? and this one? and this one?” and perhaps useful to pick out a few species for the garden.
I really want this invaluable book for myself but would give it to my grand-daughter as a future custodian of the trees of Aotearoa
I would appreciate the opportunity to win this book as I have just created a monthy get together of fellow environmental management students where we discuss local, national and internation environmental current affairs. We also aim to be proactive in our community here in Tauranga by planting trees, replanting sand dunes organising rubbish collection etc Today I have picked the fruit from a few Puriri and plant to plant the seedlings around here but any info on native trees would be fantastic!
Thank you.
I’d love the book, not only for my personal use 🙂 but also for in my role as a travel writer and blogger (kiwitravelwriter.com) to ensure I’m passing on the right info’ about our unique flora to my readers everywhere
It’s a wonderful book & deserves pride of place on my bookshelf!
New Zealands trees connect us to the times of old.
The Giants of our forests tell stories thousands of years old.
We can but re tell and capture some of these stories.
This book makes a great effort to do so and to own a copy would be an honour.
I live up in an area surrounded by DOC land with awsome bush / forrested all arround. This book would be absolutly fantastic to help us understand what we are living amongst.
This book would be like a Bible to me. I am very passionate about New Zealands amazing native trees and wildlife and i’m currently studying Environmental Management to develop a life long career in the conservation field. I would love a copy of this book.
Logan
Hi its Lyn . I would really love a copy of this beautiful book. The photos are amazing and I love the sketches of leaves. It will be really helpful in distinguishing between species. Cant wait to look through the whole book.
The book looks great! My girlfriend is from the USA and loves the NZ flora and fauna. I would love for her to learn more about our native flora and this looks like the ideal book for me to give to her.
A worthy and credible addition to information on the flora of NZ. Would be a wonderful new reference point for us amateur botanists!
How beautiful -a celebration of our trees. As I watch the clearance of neighbouring properties, to build more houses in every back section, I treasure all the trees I have planted on my city property, & can’t bear to think of the day, that that fate will befall them too.There is even a phyllocladus over the back fence, a Kauri, a Rimu, planted by my elderly neighbour, years ago. I enjoy them now – who knows for how long.
Me & my girlfriend often go on bushwalks and wonder what the trees are. This book would help a lot! 🙂
What a beautiful looking book! And what a great way to introduce my kids to the trees they see when we’re out and about.
I would love this book because I’d like to learn more about native trees! And because it just looks gorgeous.
Cheers!
I would love the book to give to my 10 year old daughter for Christmas. She tells me she is going to work for the Department of Conversation when she grows up because she wants to “Keep New Zealand beautiful!”