Get Involved

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

WRT Community Nursery

Community Nursery Sessions

We welcome volunteers to our community nursery to help with all aspects of growing our native plants from eco sourced seeds. 

Spring/summer volunteer hours: Wednesday is nursery day. We open every Wednesday morning from 9-12pm with evening sessions from 5.30-7.30pm (February and March only)

What to bring: Gardening gloves, Water, sunhat, sunscreen

Location: Jean Malpas Community Nursery, Poplar Drive, 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 120,000 natives throughout the Whakatipu Basin.

Autumn 2025 planting dates

Saturday 5 April at Whitechapel Reserve from 9am

Saturday 12 April at Slopehill Reserve from 9am

Saturday 3 May at Lake Hayes Pavilion from 9am

Volunteer

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

WRT Community Planting Days

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…