Gee spent her childhood at Westbury, and is widely recognised as one of Tasmania's leading conservationists. She has been an activist since the campaign to save Lake Pedder from 1967 to 1972, and has been involved with many environmental struggles over the past forty years. Gee has compiled and edited a number of books which have documented the struggles to conserve Tasmania's natural heritage. She has also written about local writers, and collected Tasmanian verse.
In 2003, Gee was a part of the group of conservationists and historians involved in the discovery of the Recherche Bay gardens, established by the d'Entrecasteaux expedition in May 1792. Her home is a grazing property on the Tasmanian East coast; she has two children [2011].
Helen Gee entered the Tasmanian Honour Role for Women in 2011 for her service to the environment.