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.
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
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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