Blair Balsom

Blair leads the Auckland-based herpetology team and oversees lizard salvage work across the North Island. He holds an MSc in Zoology from the University of Otago, where he studied katipō spider behaviour, and began his career in ranger roles surveying Canterbury spotted skink. Blair has led surveys, salvages, and translocations nationwide, working with dozens of lizard species and threatened frogs including Hochstetter’s and Archey’s frogs. He holds multiple Wildlife Act authorities and has designed large-scale survey and salvage programmes for windfarms, subdivisions, and conservation projects, including ongoing work on Aotea/Great Barrier Island.