Our stories.
Learn about the stories of our wild places.
What it's like to volunteer with us - Christchurch Team.
Check out this great video about our volunteer programme in Christchurch which was created for us by some very talented volunteers. Our programme involves both locals and volunteers from all over the world who stay with us for a minimum of one week spending Monday - Friday working hard to protect our environment. Projects also take place weekly in Wellington, Auckland and Punakaiki.
Want to see what 200,000 trees looks like? Check out this amazing video to see progress at our restoration site in Punakaiki. If you look closely, you'll see the tiny dots on what looks like open green spaces. These are the tree guards around last years planting. This year, our Punakaiki volunteers will plant the 200,000th native tree. An amazing achievement. Thanks so much to everyone who got involved.
Restoring the Ātiu Creek Regional Park on the
Kaipara Harbour.
Over the past few years, CVNZ has been restoring the landscape at Atiu Creek Regional Park on the Kaipara Harbour. Many of our volunteers have made the long trip up North to help us plant, collect seeds, remove weeds and propagate seedlings in our on-site nursery. I hope you are proud to hear that with your help, we have now grown and planted over 135,000 native trees at this site alone. Please have a look at our new video showing our site and new plantings.
Discover nature with Dylan.
Rongoā Māori - Kawakawa (Piper Excelsum)
Most people know or recognise Kawakawa as it is extremely abundant. But were you aware of the multiple medicinal uses it has in Rongoā Māori? Sore tooth? Excema? Head ache? See how this incredible plant can be used to help with all of these and more. The best thing? It probably grows in your backyard or down the road so finding it is easy.
Looking after the Tuna / Longfin Eel
The longfin eel is a truly amazing creature. At up to 2m long, they are the largest eel in the world and can live to be over 100 years old. This eel is endemic to New Zealand and is also our top freshwater predator which makes them extremely important to the biodiversity of our waterways.
Learn more about this stunning species using the resources here.
Take part in backyard conservation with Joe.
Japanese Honeysuckle
This weed can smother adult trees and invade open areas, stopping sunlight from germinating native plants. These vines are easy to spot and not too difficult to remove so if it's in your bubble get stuck in and protect our native species!
English Ivy
Ivy has been used to cover walls and fences for centuries. In Europe there are natural checks and balances for ivy, but here in New Zealand our native species have no defence.
Old Man's Beard
Clematis vitalba, also known as Old Man's Beard,is a vigorous vine that grows up to 10 metres in a single year. It damages forests by smothering seedlings and suppressing canopy tree growth. This can eventually lead to large scale habitat loss...
About us.
The Wild Heart Project’s vision is to help us all get involved in protecting and growing conservation in Aotearoa New Zealand, and is a project of Conservation Volunteers New Zealand, with WildLab and Shades of Green being a major partner.
Conservation Volunteers New Zealand was established in 2006, and since then our amazing volunteers have planted over half a million trees, and been involved in multiple restoration and clean-up programmes across the country. With over 50,000 volunteer days behind us, safety and environmental sustainability are at the core of what we do. Our volunteers include students, professionals, international visitors and retirees.
WildLab is an internationally recognised landscape design and research group dedicated to growing places where people and nature can thrive together. WildLAB projects include nature-based experiences, masterplans, strategies, communication tools, and learning programs. Wildlab is part of Shades of Green which was established in 2009, with a mission to involve all everyone with conservation in this country. Our projects include developing Kiwi Ranger, a pilot programme for children to engage with conservation experiences in New Zealand’s protected areas. In all 20,000 children got involved at 16 places across Aotearoa New Zealand. Later the programme was taken on by DOC and Toyota, to morph into Kiwi Guardians with a vision to spark the enthusiasm of our young to become kaitiaki of this country’s natural world.