Our top ten picks on how to get involved in Conservation Week this year

Conservation Week starts this Saturday 14^th September and we’ve put together a list of our top ten ideas and activities, from all around the country, that you and your family can do to get involved over the upcoming week. #ConservationWeek

1) Kiwi Creche Kleen Up

Hawke’s Bay / Gisborne

We kick-off our list with the Kiwi Creche Kleen Up, a fun and exciting activity, for the whole family! Volunteering at the pest-free Opouahi Kiwi Creche on Sunday 22^nd September will see you doing some very important mahi of clearing vegetation and weeds from the predator-proof fence and inside the reserve. Each year North Island brown kiwi chicks are taken from the wild to the safe haven of the kiwi crèche. Once they are large enough to be able to defend themselves from predators they are returned to the wild. So, the clean-up work you’ll do here will help immensely by removing potential hiding spots for predators such as rats and stoats that might get in the creche. If you’re in the Hawke’s Bay / Gisborne area, get the whānau down to Opouahi Kiwi Creche and get involved.

P.S there’s a free sausage sizzle after! Yum!

Find out more details about the Kiwi Creche Kleen Up event here.

2) Conservation Illumination

Lighting up the Auckland Harbour Bridge for Conservation Week is a joint project between DOC and Auckland Council. The light show runs on 249 solar panels and uses 90,000 programmable LED lights permanently installed on the bridge to create colour and abstract visuals.

The focus of the installation is nature in Auckland. The light show will run every 30 minutes between 6.30pm and midnight from Saturday 14th to Sunday 22nd September. It will be accompanied by a soundtrack, accessible from the Vector Lights website.

3) Shorebird Centre Open Day

Auckland

Less than an hour out of Auckland at the Pūkorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre, the Shorebird Centre Open Day event will make for a great and educational family day out. From 8am-11am there is a Flora & Fauna Guided tour, where you get to visit and learn more about shorebirds and plants that are especially adapted to live along the Shorebird Coast. At 11am hear from Keith Woodley, the full-time manager of the Miranda Shorebird Centre, give his famous talk about the birds and the work that the Trust does on their behalf. From 12pm onward you can join a group of volunteers for walk out to the shellbank to clear away weeds, in preparation for the arrival of thousands of arctic migrants that arrive every summer. You can make this a whole day event or you can choose to attend the event according the to activities you’re interested in.

Find out more details about the Shorebird Centre Open Day event here.

4) Pest Feast – Harbourside Market

Wellington

Ever tried Gorse Cake? Venison pie? Rabbit sausage roll? Or wild wallaby meatballs? If you’re down in Wellington on the 15^th and 22^nd of September than you must head over to the Harbourside Market on Cable Street and try some pest feast foods! There will be giveaways, interactive games for the kids and parents can learn all about backyard trapping and how to wipe out those invasive weeds!

Find out more details about the Pest Feast event here.

5) Kiwi Aversion Training for Dogs

Pureora and Rotorua

If you’re in the Pureora area on the 14^th of September or in the Rotorua area on the 15^th then come along to the Kiwi Aversion Training for Dogs. If you and your fur buddy are often in the bush together than this training would be perfect for you both! Uncontrolled dogs can have devastating effects on vulnerable kiwi so help protect our national icon by training your dog to avoid kiwi in the bush. The assessment and training will only take 15 minutes, but it’s fully worth it! You’ll have to make a booking prior.

Find out more about the Kiwi Aversion Training for Dogs event at Pureora here and at Rotorua here.

6) ExtINKtion

Wellington

ExtINKtion… Massive pun intended! If you’re in love with some of our native, threatened species and equally in love with tattoos, then we have the perfect event for you to attend this Conservation Week! If you’re in Wellington on Sunday the 22^nd come on down to The Hudson and a get yourself a tattoo that even your mum would be proud of. Native New Zealand bird conservation is an issue which needs support, and what better way to help our feathered friends than wearing them as a tattoo? ExtINKtion is a project which aims to bring people together for a worthy cause, who will then use their tattoos to communicate the issue to others. You’ll be a walking, talking exhibit for conservation in New Zealand. This event isn’t reserved just for people who like a bit of ink. If you don’t want to be tattooed, you can still come along anyways and help support the cause with posters and temp-tats.

All proceeds will be donated to our friends at Zealandia and Forest & Bird. See you there!

7) 50 years of Conservation Week

Otago

Otago Museum is hosting a special exhibition to celebrate 50 years of Conservation Week. The pop-up exhibition developed by us (DOC) showcases the work of community-led conservation initiatives in Ōtepoti Dunedin. It acknowledges the conservation work done over the past half-century and encourage people to think about the next 50 years. If you’re new to conservation or are interested in learning about the conservation work that was done in the past, then this is the event for you. The exhibition will be open from the 16-22 of September, Atrium Level 2.

Find out more here.

8) Neighbourhood Nature Nosey

Aotearoa / New Zealand

This Conservation Week we’ve teamed up with iNaturalist NZ to create a Neighbourhood Nature nosey competition! As you participate in Conservation Week activities and events, whip out your phone or tablets and start snapping photos of all the living things you see when you’re out and about in your neighbourhood. Upload them to the iNaturalist app, an app that identifies all species and living things on Android and IOS and enter into the competition. The competition commences on midnight the 14^th and ends midnight Sunday 22^nd of September.

Monitor the competition online here and follow to see what region takes out 1^st place this year.

9) Nocturnal by Nature – Guided Night walk & Waiata

Rotorua

Join some of our Rotorua DOC rangers on the 14^th of September for a fun, family-friendly evening of looking and listening for creatures and critters that are Nocturnal by Nature at Okere Falls Scenic Reserve. The evening starts at 6:30pm and goes to 8:30pm, enjoy a hot chocolate and participate in a waiata and sing-a-long with ‘Glenys and the Glow worms’. All you have to do is register for the event here, bring your flashlights and your sense of adventure on the evening.

10) Te Ara Kakariki Plantout – Hororata

Canterbury

Te Ara Kakariki Canterbury Greenway trust are working hard to improve biodiversity in Canterbury by creating a native corridor of green dots, linking the mountains to the sea and Lake Ellesmere. If you’re in the area on Saturday, the 21^st then why not join in for a volunteer planting day at two green dot sites in Hororata. So far, the team have planted at 73 green dot sites and you can help add to that tally. Te Ara Kakariki will provide bus transport from Christchurch to the sites and will run pick-ups from 8am. At the end of the day you’ll be returned to Christchurch by 4:30pm. For the day, the team will also provide you with both morning and afternoon tea, as well as lunch. This is such a great opportunity to give something back to nature and conservation, and like many things on our list, it’s something the whole family can enjoy.

Find out more here and register for the event. We’ll see you there!

These were our top ten activities and events to attend this Conservation Week, we hope you liked them and will hopefully attend an event near you, because nature needs us. Unfortunately, we couldn’t feature all of our events on this list so if your interested in other events and activities like the ones featured, visit us here.