The Whakatipu Reforestation Trust thrives on the goodwill and hard work of our volunteers. Volunteers help us turn our vision into a reality, one plant at a time.
Whether you have lived in the Queenstown-Lakes area all your life or are visiting for a short time, we would love to show you what we do and to get you involved.
Ways You Can Volunteer
Community Nursery Sessions
We welcome volunteers to our community nursery to help with all aspects of growing our native plants from eco sourced seeds.
NURSERY SESSIONS:
Join us at one of our regular volunteer sessions at the nursery. No previous experienced is required, and you don’t need a green thumb! Through the winter months we are open on (most) Wednesday afternoons, when the sun is streaming into the nursery and the soil is warm.
Winter Hours (May-Aug): 1.00pm – 4.00pm
Please note that we are closed on 6th, 13th & 20th July.
Location: Jean Malpas Community Nursery, Poplar Drive, Jardine Park, Kelvin Heights.
Community Planting Days
Each spring and autumn we invite our community to help plant native plants at our keystone sites. To date, we have planted over 60,000 natives throughout the Whakatipu Basin, with 5,000 plants now ready for our next planting season.
SPRING COMMUNITY NATIVE PLANTING DATES:
Join us this spring as we continue working together to restore our indigenous ecosystems. Spring community planting days start on September 3rd, with planting events happening around the community every weekend until mid October. We invite everyone to join us as we take action to restore a flourishing natural environment. Click here for directions (leaf icons). PS – you don’t need to have a green thumb!
Keystone Site Planting Days
WRT’s Keystone Sites are our large, multi-year planting projects on public land. These areas will ultimately form biodiversity island and corridors, providing food and habitat for our native birds, lizards and invertebrates.
Sat 3rd September – Whitechapel Reserve, Arrow Junction (1500 native trees & shrubs) (followed by Community BBQ)
Sat 10th September – Bush Creek, behind Chinese Village (750 native trees & shrubs)
Sat 17th September – Mill Creek Tributary, Slope Hill Road (off Speargrass Flats Road) (1000 native trees & shrubs) (followed by Community BBQ)
Other Community Planting Days
Around the district, various community groups & conservation organisations also planting native trees and shrubs at local parks and reserves, as well as undertaking landscape scale ecosystem restoration projects.
Sat 24th September – Quail Rise Community Planting, Jim’s Way, Quail Rise (300 native trees & shrubs) (run by Friends of Quail Rise)
Sun 2nd October – Arrowtown Beech Party, Sawpit Gully Arrowtown (2000 native trees & shrubs) (run by Arrowtown Choppers)
Sat 8th October – Tucker Beach Wildlife Reserve Community Planting day (1000 native trees & shrubs) (run by Friends of Tucker Beach Wildlife Reserve)
Sat 15th October – Coronet Faces (Mahu Whenua) (10,000 native trees & shrubs) (run by Te Tapu o Tāne | Project Crimson, and supported by WRT)
Event details on WRT’s Facebook page.
Volunteered Services
We welcome volunteers who can contribute their own expertise and help in other ways. For example by providing:
✓ Photography ✓ Writing ✓ Artwork ✓ Spraying ✓ Using Scrub-bar ✓ Fundraising ✓ Engineering ✓ Building
Become a Planting Partner
We can provide plants and support to other groups who take on the planting and management of sites on public land throughout the Whakatipu Basin.
We’d love to hear from you, your business, community association, community group or school if you are interested in taking on a planting site.
Newsletter Signup
Join our mailing list to keep up to date with news, community planting days and latest developments…