Can I get involved with threatened species conservation?

Safeguarding threatened and unique plants and animals against extinction is a huge job and one that the DOC is unable to achieve alone.

Fortunately, there are an impressive number and variety of landcare groups and community-based restoration projects around New Zealand that operate independently of DOC. Many of these groups have large-scale restoration and biodiversity recovery as their aims.

Find community groups in your region 

Other programmes are more specific to a particular endangered species. Some of these groups rely on the help and expertise of volunteers and therefore provide opportunities for you to be involved in threatened species management. This usually means active participation (e.g. checking a trap line) but could also involve providing some administrative or financial help. These species are usually seldom seen because of their low numbers, so helping out is a great way to take action now, so in the future maybe some of them will be in your backyard!

Join a group

Kiwi
Kiwis for Kiwi website  

NZ Fairy Tern/ tara-iti
The NZ Fairy Tern Charitable Trust website

Kererū/NZ Pigeon
Kererū Discovery Project website

Hutton’s shearwater/ tītī
The Hutton's Shearwater Charitable Trust website

Kākāpō
Kākāpō Recovery website

DOC volunteer programme

DOC also has an extensive volunteer programme and many of the activities and projects have threatened species management conservation as one of the goals of their work.  Becoming a DOC volunteer involves being supervised by, and/or working with, DOC staff.

Become a DOC volunteer