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
Save the kiwi trust website
Fairy Tern
http://www.fairytern.org.nz/
Kereru/NZ Pigeon
http://www.kererudiscovery.org.nz/
Hutton's shearwater
http://www.huttonsshearwater.org.nz/
Kakapo
http://www.kakapo.org.nz
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