There are lots of ways you can support Wairarapa Moana, whether you join a local conservation group, take part in a planting event or take action in your own backyard.

Everyday people make significant contributions towards threatened species programmes, ecological restoration, the maintenance of recreation facilities and the restoration and maintenance of historic buildings.

Volunteering is fun, challenging, rewarding and can be a life-changing experience. You can make a difference while gaining new skills, getting fit and meeting new friends.

Join an existing group

SOUTH WAIRARAPA BIODIVERSITY GROUP

Enhancing the ecology of the area with a specific focus on the potential educational, recreational, cultural and tourism opportunities available at Lake Ōnoke. The group run many events including working bees and planting days.

For more information visit the South Wairarapa Biodiversity Group Facebook page and their website.

Aorangi Restoration Trust

By 2045, the Trust aims to have restored the Aorangi Forest and its surrounds to the state where the indigenous forest, coastal, and marine ecosystems are healthy, and its streams, rivers, and wetlands are clean and abundantly inhabited, and provide ecosystem services that benefit the rural and urban economies of South Wairarapa and offer places for recreation for the wider Wellington region.

The trust has many projects including project education, project penguin monitoring and predator control. Tonganui is a large-scale tree-planting project to establish permanent native forest corridors reconnecting the Aorangi and Remutaka.

For more information visit the Aorangi Restoration Trust website.

DUCKS UNLIMITED

This wetland and waterfowl conservation group works to save wetlands throughout New Zealand, including the Wairio Wetland at Lake Wairarapa, through protection, funding, technical advice and assistance, and education.

For more information visit the Ducks Unlimited website.

PAE TŪ MŌKAI O TAUIRA

A passionate and proud group, committed to bringing mana to our lives and to the communities we walk in. We stand for the protection of our land and culture and we believe in the diversity and value that Māori bring to our communities.

Pae Tū Mōkai ō Tauira is an Incorporated Society established to give Featherston a Māori voice on the South Wairarapa Māori Standing Committee and to support Mana Whenua.

In important componant of the groups mahi and dedication to the whenua is He Kōtare Native Plant Nursery. Open for pick-ups by appointment only and has a variety of plants ranging from seedlings to fully formed young plants.

For more information visit the Pae tū Mōkai o Tauira website.

Wairarapa Pūkaha to Kawaka Alliance

The Wairarapa Pūkaha to Kawakawa Alliance is a community-led network. It brings many different groups together to increase the health of Wairarapa ecosystems, biodiversity, water and the resilience of its communities.

The Alliance is an open network; members decide which projects and activities they want to participate in. We provide practical information and wide-ranging support to existing and new groups.

For more information visit the Wairarapa Pūkaha to Kawakawa Alliance website.

FEATHERSTON WALKWAYS AND RESERVE TRUST

Aim: To promote Featherston as the gateway to the Wairarapa. The trust maintains the Otauira, Dorset Square, and Barr-Brown bush reserves and Featherston Domain. The trust is also working with the South Wairarapa Tramping Club to connect Featherston to the Tararua Forest Park tramping network via the Bucks Road campsite, and is promoting a new mountain bike track and improved walking access to Wairarapa Moana.

For more information visit the Featherston Walkways and Reserves Trust website.

Emergency hotline

Call 0800 DOC HOT (0800 362 468) immediately if you find an injured native animal that might need help.