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Ecological Restoration

Colonial settlers, companies and successive governments undertook widespread destruction of New Zealand’s native forests and swamps. Since then local and national efforts and initiatives have sought to reforest and preserve what is left. SCIS no. 5415855

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Kaimanawa wild horse muster

Kaimanawa wild horse muster

The Kaimanawa Wild Horses are mustered biannually to maintain a herd size of 300 which strikes a balance between the intrinsic and heritage values of the wild horses to New Zealanders, and conserva...

NATURE NOTES (Evening Post, 15 January 1927)

A naturalist attributes deforestation, increased settlements and introduction of animals as some of the reasons for extinction of birds in New Zealand.

Ecological Restoration

Ecological Restoration

Conversations on our moral obligations to the future of the planet

Maungatautari Ecological Island

Maungatautari Ecological Island

Since 2002 the Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust has worked to restore the forest on Maungatautari mountain, and reintroduce long-lost bird species such as kiwi, kākā, takahē and hihi (stitchbi...

Protected areas: New Zealand’s protected areas

New Zealand’s protected areas are its 13 national parks and a large number of reserves.

Conservation rankings

Dr Phil Bishop, from the University of Otago, talks about our native frogs and some of the reasons they are so vulnerable to extinction. He describes the process of assigning a conservation ranking...

Ecology Action Group demonstrators in Wellington

Ecology Action Group demonstrators in Wellington

Ecology Action Group demonstrators in Wellington carrying crosses listing ecological disasters, 31 July 1972. Messages on crosses include: "Lake Monowai, A NZED power hungry blunder"; "1982 Stitch ...

Wetland restoration

Wetland restoration

Nearly 90% of New Zealand’s wetland area has been lost since the early 1800s, and some remaining lakes and wetlands are degraded. Lake Ōkaro, near Rotorua, has suffered the effects of fertiliser ru...

Pirongia Restoration Society

Pirongia Restoration Society

Clare St Pierre speaks about the restoration activities like pest control, protection and restoration programmes at Mt Pirongia.

Arbour Day 1987

Arbour Day 1987

High school students pose with a tree and spades during Arbor Day. The girls are in Heretaunga College Uniform. In New Zealand Arbor Day is celebrated on the 5 June and usually involves the plantin...

Native replanting

Native replanting

This section of the Heathcote River in Christchurch has been planted with native tussock sedges, which now line the river edge. Vegetation overhanging the banks provides cover for native fish, and ...

Regeneration through gorse

Regeneration through gorse

Gorse is valued for its role in starting the rapid development of native forest. At Hinewai Reserve on Banks Peninsula, shade-tolerant plants such as māhoe and poroporo grew under ageing gorse and ...

Zealandia

Zealandia (previously Karori Sanctuary) covers the former catchment of the Karori reservoir – opened in 1873 to supply Wellington’s water. When the upper dam closed in 1991, conservationists convin...

Black Rat

Pest control method for black rats from Mahakirau Forest.

Possum bait station

Possum bait station

Near towns and cities, possums are controlled by placing poison baits into containers nailed onto tree trunks. This keeps the poison above the reach of children, dogs, and ground-dwelling birds.

1080 carrots

Possums are controlled in New Zealand by trapping or poisoning. These carrots are being shredded and mixed with 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate) before being aerially spread into Pureora Forest. Pos...

Plant nursery, Tiritiri Matangi, 1988

Plant nursery, Tiritiri Matangi, 1988

Since the 1980s revegetation projects have sprung up all over New Zealand, and many people grow natives in community nurseries near their revegetation sites. This nursery on Tiritiri Matangi Island...

Tree planting and erosion

Tree planting and erosion

These views of Mangatū Forest, near Gisborne, show the difference that planting trees can make where there is severe erosion. The heavily eroded landscape (left) has been partly stabilised 11 years...

Wetland restoration

Wetland restoration

A restoration programme is being carried out at Lake Kaituna in the Waikato. A local farming family, the Hayes, became concerned about the state of the lake in the 1980s and 1990s. They formed a lo...

It's in our nature, Aongatete Restoration Project

It's in our nature, Aongatete Restoration Project

Forest & Bird has been protecting and restoring New Zealand's natural heritage for over 90 years. In the Bay of Plenty, Forest & Bird set up and manages a volunteer group which cares for 500 hectar...

Stream Ecology

John Quinn looks at stream ecology as a way of measuring stream health.

Urban ecological restoration

New Zealand's 20 largest urban centres vary considerably in terms of their extant indigenous biodiversity.

Department of Conservation

DoC restores the diversity of native plants and animals on conservation land.

Forest & Bird defends nature across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Te Teko tree planting by the Rangitaiki River in New Zealand

A Te Teko community initiative to stabilise the riverbank by planting native rakau (trees).

School takes on a wetland restoration project

An out-of-bounds overgrown marsh next to Kairanga School has become a classroom in a school-wide wetland restoration project.

Scenery preservation 1903-1953

Politician Harry Ell was the strongest advocate of scenery preservation in the early 20th century.

NZ's natural resources

Find out how we manage and protect our natural resources.

Conservation – a history

The arrival of humans and the animals they introduced have had a devastating effect on New Zealand’s natural environment.

New Zealand as ecosystems

The ecosystem concept as a tool for environmental management and conservation.

Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari

Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari began with a dream to protect the plant and animal species living on Maungatautari.

Restoration resource centre

This page provides links to information and resources for restoration groups.

Growing more of the manuka already on your land

‘Growing more of the manuka already on your land,’ by Maggie Olsen, Massey University.

NZ conservation jobs

New Zealand conservation jobs provide listings for those seeking a career dealing with environmental concerns.

New strategy to tackle 'crisis' state of New Zealand's biodiversity

With New Zealand's indigenous biodiversity in a state of "crisis", a new national strategy is pertinent and timely, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage says.

New Zealand bird sanctuaries

Search for every New Zealand bird sanctuary.

Scenery Preservation Act

“The time has arrived in the history of our colony when our scenery should be preserved.”

Northland resurrection

What were the results of logging the great Northland kauri forests and how should they be conserved?

A vision to restore the environment

Labour’s plans to address freshwater, urban development, and how we are approaching issues relating to the Resource Management Act (RMA).

Kaitiakitanga – guardianship and conservation

Kaitiakitanga means guardianship and protection. It is a way of managing the environment, based on the Māori world view.

Centre for Biodiversity and Restoration Ecology

The Centre for Biodiversity and Restoration Ecology focuses on the restoration of depleted species and communities in ecosystems impacted by human activity.

QEII open space covenants

Protecting biodiversity on private land has been the principal activity of the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust.

Eleven videos about pest control in New Zealand.

Preserving waterways

There are many things you can do on a farm to improve or maintain water quality.

New Zealand's wetlands

Protecting the last 10% of our wetlands.

Northland’s forest collapse

In Northland, many great native forests and their wildlife are collapsing.

Mangarakau Wetlands

The swamp that would not go away.

Zealandia is the world’s first fully-fenced urban eco-sanctuary.

"Boy of girl?" "Haven't a clue until we organise a DNA check on a feather sample." "Goodness knows how we managed in the good old days." 13 January 2010

Restoring the ecology of Maungatautari

Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari is a North Island ecological wildlife sanctuary. It’s governing body, the Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust, was formed in 2001 by the Maungatautari community, ...

Save our wetlands'. "You were saying?" Welcome to the S. Island

Save our wetlands

Wetlands occur where the water table is closest to the surface of the land. This ‘land’ can be permanently or temporarily covered by water. These places such as swamps, mangroves and estuaries, oft...

Tiritiri Matangi Island, Auckland

Tiritiri Matangi Island

Tiritiri Matangi is an island off the coast of Auckland in the Hauraki Gulf. As a conservation success, it is a model of ecological reforestation and wildlife restoration. A hundred and twenty yea...

Karori reservoir, Wellington

Karori reservoir

The Karori reservoir with its Gothic style water outlet control tower in the centre was decommissioned because a 1978 engineer’s report found the dam to be an earthquake risk. The reservoir is no...

Tamaki Estuary, Auckland

An estuary is an area where a freshwater river or stream mixes with salty sea water. Estuaries are unique ecosystems with huge ecological value because they are home to plants like mangroves and se...

Matakana Island, Tauranga

Matakana Island

Matakana Island lies at the entrance of Tauranga’s Harbour in the Bay of Plenty. This 20 km long and 3 km wide island became the centre for dotterel protection in 1992 thanks to an initiative shown...

FOREST-RAISING (Taranaki Daily News 1-9-1911)

Nine million trees grown last year’ claims this article from 1911. Even though much of the article gives statistics on the cost of reforestation in New Zealand, it is comforting to know that even t...

SCENERY PRESERVATION. (Clutha Leader 2-5-1905)

Scenery preservation

Ironically the Scenery Preservation Act 1903 was passed for touristic reasons, and not for the conservation reasons advocated by Christchurch politician Harry Ell. It was his championing of the Pre...

Reclaiming our forest heritage

A proposal for a 21st century project to recover our international ‘green’ image and restore our natural heritage on the mainland.

Ecological restoration

For more than 80 million years, Aotearoa New Zealand was a land of forests, at the heart of the world's largest ocean. As trees, rivers, plants and animals evolved together, unique life forms em...

Mission to clean up spilled West Coast dump rubbish accomplished

A storm exposed about 135,000 kilograms of rubbish from an old landfill, spilling it into the Fox river and sending it downstream.

Environment Southland’s Waihopai River took out the Supreme Award for Most Improved River at the New Zealand River Awards 2019.

Wetland Trust: restore wetlands

Site devoted to Wetlands, planning wetland events, types of wetland, management plans etc.

Predator free NZ

Information on pest trapping and predator free 2050,. Includes resources and research.

A Kauri dieback school resource, activity sheet, poster and kauri care guide.

NZ plant conservation network

Environmental conservation case studies.

Restoration Project approved for Raukūmara Forest

After years of lobbying successive governments, local iwi on the East Coast have finally received funding and support to heal the ancestral Raukūmara Forest.

River Restoration - from mountains to sea

We can all play a part in restoring our rivers. On this virtual field trip you will join a group of people helping to restore Waikanae River.

Voice of the kākāpō

An audio adventure following the roller-coaster ride of the 2019 kākāpō breeding season.

Tree-planting instructions

Tree-planting instructions

Forest Service poster published in 1985 shows best planting method for reforestation.

Celebrate Arbor Day

An integrated approach with tree-related activities to celebrating Arbor Day in the classroom.

Find more information on ecological restoration in New Zealand on EPIC. Databases recommended: New Zealand Geographic, Australia New Zealand Reference Centre Plus. School login may be required.

The ecology of Te Papa Ōtākaro, Avon River precinct.

Focuses on the ecology of the Avon River, the present condition and proposals to attract native species in the river. Shows the Watermark project in action as part of the conservation effort and di...

Weed biocontrol education resources

Background information and lessons to help students understand the biology, ecology and natural control of weeds.

Restoring mahika kai with tuna research

Otago youth monitor tune as a part of growing their knowledge as kaitiaki of natural food harvesting and wildlife sites.

Resources for teachers

Teacher and classroom resources on sustainability and the environment.

DOC Sounds of Science

DOC's Sounds of Science podcast offers a behind-scenes-look at how we care for NZ's native species and natural environment.

The nature reserve with a 500-year plan

In the past 30 years, a wilderness known as Zealandia has grown up in the heart of New Zealand's capital.

Man Spends 30 Years Turning Degraded Land into Massive Forest

Fools & Dreamers: Regenerating a Native Forest is a 30-minute documentary about Hinewai Nature Reserve, on New Zealand’s Banks Peninsula, and its kaitiaki/manager of 30 years, botanist Hugh Wil...

Robins return to Manawatū

The moving story of translocating 40 birds to their new home.

Ecological restoration of offshore islands

Island restoration aims to rebuild communities of native plants and animals.

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