Community Directory

The Arrowtown Choppers are a passionate group of volunteers dedicated to the removal of invasive wilding pines. From their inception just over 8 years ago, the Choppers have successfully cleared thousands of wildings from more than 100 hectares of land. Their attention has now turned to native revegetation efforts, with the group planting native beech, ribbonwood and tōtara in the hills and river flats surrounding Arrowtown, establishing areas of regenerating native forest and enhancing the region’s biodiversity. With more than 15,000 trees in the ground, the future is looking bright. Join the Choppers at one of their famous “Beech Parties” (community planting days) held every Spring and Autumn or connect with them on Facebook to find out more about their mahi (work).

The Routeburn and Dart River catchments contain some of the best remaining forests and native wildlife in Aotearoa New Zealand, but even so, they are just a shadow of what they once were. And they are far from safe. Formed in 2013, the Routeburn Dart Wildlife Trust has taken up the challenge to protect this outstanding natural area and the native plant and animal life that inhabits it. In partnership with the Department of Conservation, tourism operators, and local community sponsors, the Trust is battling introduced pests to protect the biodiversity of this region into the future.

The Southern Lakes Sanctuary (SLS) protects an unrivalled array of natural taonga across the Queenstown-Lakes region. The Sanctuary leads the conservation, restoration, and protection of ecosystems, building resilience in wildlife populations –including 35 species now threatened with extinction in this area. The stunning landforms and extraordinary flora and fauna that exist in our region are of global significance and play an important role in the cultural identity and wellbeing of our communities – past, present, and future. Rather than being a place of refuge, however, these mountains, lakes, and rivers are now overrun with predators who threaten the existence of many of our taonga species. The work of SLS, and the 100 consortium organisations that sit under their umbrella, is critical to ensuring the future wellbeing of both people and place. Their mahi (work) provides us with an opportunity to dream big and visualise a future where our taonga species flourish for the benefit of us all.

Mana Tāhuna Charitable Trust is a kaupapa Māori organisation who works alongside the community to improve the wellbeing of our whānau (families) and the health of our taiao (environment) in Tāhuna – Queenstown. They act as partners to help our people and our place thrive and do so in a way that supports both cultural and environmental wellbeing. Their mahi (work) in the environmental space includes projects like the restoration of Wai Whakaata– Lake Hayes, where over three years they planted 138,000 native seedlings, removed pests from over 75ha of land, and restored more than 6ha of wetland. Their ongoing efforts in this space demonstrates the power of collaboration and the way in which our communities can come together to restore the people and the environment at their heart.

The Queenstown Harvest Community Garden is a thriving hub where local residents come together to grow food and build community connections. This welcoming space operates on principles of generosity, reciprocity, and environmental stewardship, offering individual plots to members while fostering a collaborative gardening environment. Beyond simply providing growing space, the gardens serve as an educational centre promoting sustainable practices like zero waste gardening and local food production. Members benefit from shared resources, expertise, and regular activities including workshops, markets, and seed-sharing events.

Sustainable Queenstown is an independent not-for-profit. A collaboration of thinkers, talkers and do-ers, coming together to start conversations, inspire ideas and help our community make better choices. Key initiatives include:

‍Green Drinks monthly event series that hosts speakers, workshops, outdoor excursions, films and socials that bring people, ideas and knowledge together over a drink!
‍DISHrupt provides reusable serveware for events; from backyard weddings to LUMA! Imagine an event without disposable plates and cups filling the bins, that’s DISHrupt. 50,000+ disposables saved from landfill since 2018!
‍Resourceful Communities collaboration with Wastebusters brings the Repair Revolution, Slow Fashion Month, Low Waste Living Workshops and Plastic Free July activities to Queenstown. Celebrating slowing down, reusing and working together.
‍SUCfree, ('single use cup free'), champions cafes, restaurants and offices that cut out, or cut down on, takeaway cups! Normalising the 'sit, bring, borrow' mantra and keeping single use cups out of landfill.

The Tāhuna-Glenorchy Dark Skies Group seeks to celebrate and protect the bright, brilliant night skies at the head of Lake Whakatipu, NZ. Their mission is to preserve the Dark Skies as an international Dark Sky Sanctuary for current and future generations and to care for the biodiversity within the Sanctuary, especially nocturnal native species. Coupled with the work of Routeburn Dart Wildlife Trust and the Southern Lakes Sanctuary, preserving the darkness means that our night loving wildlife will have the conditions to flourish and be at home here both now and in the future.

The Tucker Beach Wildlife Trust is restoring a wasteland into a thriving wildlife reserve of national significance. This irreplaceable ecosystem is home to a diverse range of native plant and animal species, many of which are under threat both locally and nationally. Its preservation is essential to maintain the ecological balance of the Queenstown-Lakes and to provide a tranquil and natural environment for our community and visitors to enjoy and connect with the environment. In a few short years, the Trust has cleared over 18ha of waste and weeds, planted 25,000 native trees, and created more than 7.5km of new walking routes and trails. They have significantly reduced pest numbers, protecting the habitats of several migratory bird species, some of which are nationally endangered.  

The vision of the Whakatipu Reforestation Trust is to protect and restore the native biodiversity of the Whakatipu area through revegetation projects, collaboration, education and advocacy. The heart of operations is at the Jean Malpas Community Nursery in Kelvin Heights where community volunteers come together to propagate and grow native plants, including locally threatened species to be planted out into restoration sites all around the basin. If you are a local business, a community member or a visitor wanting to support local planting efforts, get in touch with the Trust to help make a positive impact to your local environment. Volunteers help turn the vision into a reality, one plant at a time. Attend a weekly volunteer nursery session or community planting event. Details on the WRT website or Love Queenstown events page.  

More than a quarter of New Zealand’s landscapes are at risk of being smothered by wilding pines –including ancient landscapes, native biodiversity, and productive soils for high-value sustainable land use. Wilding conifers have a significant impact on the Whakatipu’s native ecosystems. Where there is dense wilding conifer growth, this can lead to local extinction of fragile native plant communities, the drying of wetlands and riparian areas, and resulting impacts on native fauna through the loss of habitat. Whakatipu Wilding Control Group (WCG) work collaboratively to protect our outstanding natural landscapes and unique alpine biodiversity from wilding pine threats, by reducing spread and removing seed sources. They lead both commercial operational and volunteer work, and invite Queenstown businesses, community groups, schools, and family groups to protect their patch by ‘adopting a plot’.

The Whakatipu Wildlife Trust (WWT) works with community volunteers and local environmental organisations to support, connect and foster predator control efforts throughout the Queenstown-Lakes. As part of the 2050 Predator Free movement, they represent an important and unified voice for wildlife in the Whakatipu Basin, passionately working to protect the native bird and wildlife species that call our region home. With over 35 critically endangered species throughout the region, this work is vitally important. WWT’s local wildlife guardians trap on both public land and in their own backyards, and are engaged in ecological outcome monitoring including bird monitoring and river bird surveys. The group also hold public conservation talks, fundraise for and distribute traps, stock a community bait freezer and egg depot, recruit and train volunteers, and hold land access agreements with QLDC, DOC, and LINZ.