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.
Community Nursery Volunteering (weekly sessions)
Our Community Nursery is now open every Wednesday morning.
Spring/Summer Volunteering Hours: Every Wednesday morning from 9 am- 12 noon (drop in style).
What to bring: Gardening gloves, water, hat & sunscreen.
Location: Jean Malpas Community Nursery, Poplar Drive, Jardine Park, Kelvin Heights.
No gardening experience required | Morning tea provided
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 70,000 natives throughout the Whakatipu Basin, with 5,000 plants now ready for our autumn 2023 planting season.
Keystone Site Planting Days
Our Keystone Sites are large, multi-year planting projects on public land. Our vision is to create wildlife corridors that will, in turn, attract native birds, lizards & invertebrates back into the basin, significantly enhancing the biodiversity of the region. Below are dates for our volunteer community planting days in Spring 2024.
All planting days are drop-in style between 9am – 12 noon.
Saturday, 7th September – Whitechapel Reserve
- Plants: 1500
- Location: Whitechapel Road, Arrow Junction
- Parking: Adjacent to planting site
- Followed by a Community BBQ to celebrate the start of spring planting season!
Saturday, 14th September – Lake Hayes Pavilion
- Plants: 1500
- Location: Lake Hayes Pavilion
- Parking: At Lake Hayes Pavilion
Saturday, 21st September – Slope Hill Recreation Reserve
- Plants: 1000
- Location: Approximately 1km along Slope Hill Road (access via Speargrass Flat Road ONLY) – on the right-hand side of the bike trail
- Parking: Look for the WRT flag on the left
Thursday, 26th September – Jardine Park Welcome Forest: Visitor Industry Planting Day.
This event is a collaboration between the Whakatipu Reforestation Trust, Mana Tāhuna, Love Queenstown, Skyline, McConnell Dowell, and the Queenstown Lakes District Council.
- Plants: 2000
- Location: Jardine Park, Poplar Drive, Kelvin Heights
- Transport and Parking: The crew at LSQ are running two shuttles to transport volunteers from Queenstown and Frankton to Jardine Park for the morning and afternoon sessions. Book a seat on the van below, otherwise please carpool, bike, or bus where possible. Parking on site is limited.
- Registration: here
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
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