Nelson/Tasman conservation groups
Introduction
Get involved with conservation groups working with DOC in Nelson/Tasman.Listed below are some volunteer based groups that you can get involved with. You'll learn new skills, meet like-minded people, contribute to conservation, and increase your connection to your local community and natural spaces.
For more conservation volunteer opportunities:
Abel Tasman Birdsong Trust
Aim: To protect and enhance biodiversity and improve the visitor experience in Abel Tasman National Park. The trust is is a partnership between commercial operators, the community and DOC. A project controlling wilding pines in the the park is underway.
Abel Tasman Birdsong Trust website
Forest & Bird's Te Hoiere Bat Recovery Project
Aim: To protect long-tailed bats and other wildlife at Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve by trapping predators. Volunteers are needed to check trap lines.
Contact: nelsontasman.branch@forestandbird.org.nz
Te Hoiere Bat Recovery Project on Forest & Bird's website
Friends of Cobb
Aim: To reduce predation by stoats of vulnerable bird species (great spotted kiwi, blue duck, kea, kaka, falcon) in the Cobb Valley, Kahurangi National Park. Volunteers are needed to check trap lines..
Contact: Marian Milne marian@farmside.co.nz
Friends of Flora
Aim: To bring the birdsong back to the Flora Stream area of Kahurangi National Park. The friends, in partnership with DOC, maintain more than 65 km of stoat and trap lines over 5000 ha. Supporters can volunteer, get a newsletter and donate.
Friends of Flora website and Facebook page
Friends of Mangarakau
Aim: To restore and maintain the 350 ha Mangarakau Wetland, south of Farewell Spit. The friends actively plant and maintain an extensive trapping network, as well as trapping in the neighbouring Mangarakau Scenic Reserve to protect the endemic giant land snails from rat predation. The wetland reserve has a field base which sleeps 13 people and is available for overnight accommodation.
Friends of Mangaraukau website
Contact Robyn Jones +64 3 524 8266 or mangarakauswamp@gmail.com
Friends of Paynes Ford
Aim: To protect the flora and fauna of Paynes Ford Scenic Reserve from predation by possums, stoats and rats and competition from weeds. The group has established a network of traps through the forested part of the reserve and work to eliminate old mans beard, banana passionfruit and tradescantia.
Contact: Celia Butler +64 3 525 9093 or hangdog.camp@paradise.net.nz
Friends of Pearl Creek
Aim: To maintain Pearl Creek, a well-established riparian restoration project on the Waimea Estuary. Pearl Creek is regionally significant in providing wetland and stream habitat for the nationally at risk kōkopu, long fin eel and inanga. The friends hold regular working bees and planting days.
Contact: nelsontasman.branch@forestandbird.org.nz
Friends of Rotoiti
Aim: To to enhance the work being done in the Rotoiti Nature Recovery Project mainland island by controlling introduced pests - stoats, rats, possums, wasps and feral cats. The friends build, set and monitor traps lines, conduct wasp and stoat bait trials and assist with lizard and robin monitoring.
Friends of Rotoiti on Kiwis for Kiwi website
HealthPost Nature Trust
Aim: To create a wondrous, accessible nature sanctuary at Wharariki/ Farewell Spit. We will enable native species to flourish by controlling predators and re-establishing rare and threatened species. It will be a place for people to experience this unique landform as a thriving and diverse ecosystem.
HealthPost Nature Trust website
Contact: Marian Milne info@naturetrust.nz
Keep Golden Bay Beautiful
Aim: To enhance Golden Bay by beautifying the area with amenity plantings and improving the area by cleaning up the environment, and cleaning up waterways by carrying out riparian plantings. Volunteers can help with clean ups, plantings, releasing of plants and potting up, also phoning, providing smokos for our working bees or enthusing other people.
Contact: Kathy Hindmarsh +64 3 525 8332 or katsi@xtra.co.nz
Murchison Environmental Care Group
Aim: To plant riparian strips in native vegetation and control pests at Six Mile Walkway, 10 km south of Murchison. The Group built a community nursery to provide native plants and teaches native plant propagation techniques.
Contact Dave Seeley, DOC Ranger, Murchison Field Base, +64 3 523 1006 or dseelye@doc.govt.nz
Natureland Wildlife Trust
Aim: To breed South Island kaka and yellow-crowned kakariki for release into Abel Tasman National Park by their partners Project Janszoon. This trust is a community-based conservation charity and is also the primary rehabilitation facility for native species in the Top of the South.
Natureland Wildlife Trust Website
Onekaka Biodiversity Group
Aim: To restore and protect the Onekaka River, from the Onekaka Estuary to Kahurangi National Park, including Washbourne Scenic Reserve. The reserve contains a remnant of tall podocarp/beech dominated lowland forest and the group maintains a network of traps targeting rats, mustelids and possums. The group has assisted in planting and releasing plants as part of a riparian restoration project along the Onekaka River.The group monitors the effects the operation of the Onekaka hydro scheme has on the river.
Contact Thora Blithe +64 3 525 6009 or thora.blithe@globe.net.nz
Ornithological Society of New Zealand Rock Wren Project
Aim: To protect rock wren at Hendersen Basin from stoat predation and to monitor the breeding success of rock wren. A number of birds have been banded to assist collection of data on longevity, mortality, dispersal, and health.
Contact: Richard Stocker +64 3 525 8243 or rv.stocker@clear.net.nz or Chris Petyt +64 3 525 8154 cpetyt@xtra.co.nz
Otuwhero Trust
Aim: To preserve and restore to as natural a state as possible the Otuwhero wetland and to protect and support threatened ecosystems and biodiversity within the wetland area
Website: Otuwhero Trust
Paremata Flats restoration
Aim: To protect native birds in the area by trapping rats and stoats and planting native species. It's a project of the Nelson branch of Forest & Bird, at Paremata Flats Reserve, Maori Pa Road, Rotokura/Cable Bay.
Paremata Flats restoration project on Forest & Bird website
Contact: nelsontasman.branch@forestandbird.org.nz
Tasman Environment Trust
Aim: To achieve environmental gains in the Nelson Tasman region, including increasing the number of banded rail and other wildlife on the Waimea Inlet. We are doing this by involving local communities in the restoration of habitat and trapping predators.
The Tasman Environmental Trust website
Torrent Bay pest control
Aim: To restore the habitat by controlling plant and animal pests at Torrent Bay, a beach in Abel Tasman National Park. Residents are actively involved in conservation with the Tasman District Council, DOC and tourist operators.
Contact: Bud +64 3 545 0640 or doylesailmakers@xtra.co.nz