Conservationist David Wingate has claimed that his life would come to an end if he were no longer able to carry out his conservation work on Nonsuch Island.

The 65-year-old, who worked as a conservationist for Government for 40 years until recently retiring, spoke out after getting into a wrangle with the Department of Parks over his future involvement.

He said he proposed that he continue with his life-long projects to restore Nonsuch Island and to safeguard the endangered Cahow in Bermuda as a volunteer, as well as organise and lead public tours around the site.

The naturalist said he believed it would provide a free service to Government, as well as make the transition process easier for his replacement. In return, he said all he wanted was permission from Government to remain living in the accommodation on the Island for free.

However, he was told by the Parks Department that he could only stay in the house if he were an employee and was told he would have to pay $500 a month rent.

The department said to lessen the financial blow, he could be employed as assistant caretaker and be paid $400 a month, meaning he had to fork out the $100 shortfall.

But he said they even gave him a full-time job description, almost the same as his previous job, and claimed the proposal was an insult to him and all the effort he had put in over the years.

Dr. Wingate said he had to continue to rent a house on the mainland of Bermuda because bad weather sometimes meant that he and his wife Helge had to come ashore.

And he said there was no way he could afford to pay for both homes.

He has since gone to Ministers David Allen, Terry Lister and Alex Scott, who all play a role in the Island, in a bid to get the issue resolved.

He said: "I made a proposal before I retired that I was willing to take on a transitional role.

"But I have been given a job description that is essentially what I did before. It is a full time job.

"What I was expecting was a lease agreement, but instead I was presented with a job description. I used to be paid a conservation officer's salary, which is an awful lot more than what I am going to be paid now.

"The bottom line is I can't afford the present offer. It's an insult that all I'm going to be worth is minus $100 a month.

"I can categorically state that if I was cut off from Nonsuch Island and my lifetime labour of love, it will possibly kill me. It is what gives me my meaning in life. I don't know what I would do.'' But Dr. Wingate said now the ministers were fully appraised of his original proposal, which they were unaware of before, he hoped the issue could soon be resolved, but he has not yet signed any contract.

Helle Patterson, Education Officer at the Bermuda Biological Station, condemned Governments stance on the issue.

"In other words he is to pay the Department of Parks $100 per month for the privilege of working for them while he continues protecting the Cahows and maintaining the work on Nonsuch,'' said Ms. Patterson, in a letter to the editor of The Royal Gazette .

The terms of the agreement "are so utterly insulting to a man of his ability, intelligence and the years of conservation he has spent on the island,'' Ms.

Patterson said.

According to the Parks Department document, Dr. Wingate will be required to "work on weekends, public holidays and particularly during peak periods at times''.

He will not be allowed to conduct private tours on the island, but must "assist with tours hosted by the Bermuda Biological Station and the Zoological Society,'' conduct research, maintain a daily record of the day to day use of the island and report to the Conservation Officer.

"David Wingate is on a pension. Can't we at least give him a place to do his volunteering from ?'' continued Ms. Patterson.

She added that the news is causing a stir in academic circles in the United States and Canada -- with some educators writing letters of protest to Environment Minister Terry Lister.

She said she decided to make her views public because of her long-standing respect for Dr. Wingate and his work. And she emphasised that she was speaking out in an individual capacity not for the Biological Station.

"I don't know whether they're trying to deal with this as if it's just any average case and we have to have rules,'' Ms. Patterson said, "but I do think it's a situation that should be treated as a one-off because it's so distinctive, so singular.

"Everything we have with regard to conservation... They're all to a very large extent because of David Wingate who helped to put on the pressure and to lead by example to preserve those areas for us. And our children and our children's children will benefit from the work.'' Nonsuch Island will revert to its former state without constant care, she warned.

"Neither the Cahows nor the Nonsuch Island Project will prosper if Dr.

Wingate is not encouraged to continue giving his energies to them. Who else has the know-how, the dedication, the drive and -- now -- the time?'' Ms.

Patterson wrote.

"Are we so narrow-mindedly bureaucratic that we would rather risk destroying the work which has made Bermuda honoured by the world's conservation societies, than give this man the use of an uninhabited cottage on Nonsuch Island so that he can continue that work ?'' Environment Minister Terry Lister refused to comment when contacted earlier in the week and could not be contacted for comment last night.

David Wingate