Kuaka New Zealand assists government agencies and conservation groups to achieve conservation objectives. Conservation volunteers allow this conservation work to progress faster, giving a valuable contribution to conservation efforts in New Zealand.
During your 2-weeks with Kuaka, you will be working in association with various conservation bodies in the Bay of Plenty region and ideally participating in at least two different conservation projects at two different locations.
Some of the projects are ongoing i.e. continuing and building upon the work of students from previous groups. This could be extending pathways, releasing last season’s plants, etc. You will spend at least one day planting trees. You will spend time at Avalon training centre, propagating seedlings along side people with mental and physical disabilities. You may also be doing work that directly assists the Maori you will be welcomed to New Zealand by. This might be on Maori land, or within their traditional tribal boundary.
Tasks you will be involved with may include:
- Planting trees
- Estuarine indicator species monitoring
- Maintaining &/or creating tracks
- Plant propagation (potting on seedlings) Plant release and clearing land for planting
Project goals:
Planting
Regenerating degraded habitats with native species using mainly first generation species. This leads to increased diversity, provides habitat for endangered native animals, and improves catchment water, soil and air quality. Re-vegetation of riparian areas, for example, helps to reverse water system degradation.
Plant propagation
Provides plants to put in the ground next year, and creates benefits for the disabled trainees you will be working with.
Ground preparation, maintenance of re-vegetation sites and weed control
Supportive measures for re-vegetation efforts.
Track maintenance and construction
Assisting people to access natural or sensitive sites - improving awareness of natural systems while minimizing damage.
Community interactions
Providing opportunities for cultural exchange and education/support of community members in land restoration efforts.
Monitoring
Monitoring aims to find out the health of an ecosystem and whether further action needs to be taken to reduce human impacts upon the environment. Decisions regarding resource management require scientific information about the resources. Gathering baseline data help determine which changes are normal and which are not.