Penny1

Penny Rees is the Howick Co-Ordinator for DUCT. In this role, she keeps an eye on the local rivers, streams and water courses and works with any issues threatening them. Representing DUCT, she is the chair of the Upper uMngeni Catchment Management Forum and is also a member of Frack Free SA. She is no stranger to environmental work and issues, having spent over 30 years as a game ranger, field guide, educator, researcher and activist on various different game reserves in South Africa.

Penny firmly believes that input from local residents is crucial in enabling healthy rivers, and she promotes this by working with locals as well as undertaking each year, a walk down the full length of a different river during which all impacts are recorded and the information used as a reference for rehabilitation of the river. Thus far over the last four years she has led seven of these walks covering over 500 kilometers of river length, and she and her Mayday for Rivers team were awarded the annual WESSA Conservationists of the year award for their 2012 uMngeni river walk