The Whakatipu Basin has lost around 95% of its indigenous biodiversity, and the Whakatipu Reforestation Trust was set up to help bring it back.
Operating a volunteer-run community nursery on council land near Queenstown, the Trust propagates and grows up to 12,000 native plants each year, planting them out onto public conservation land across the basin.
In 2024 alone, volunteers recorded more than 7,500 hours. Since it started 12 years ago, more than 140,000 plants have gone in the ground, and habitats are returning for the birds, insects, and lizards that once defined the region.
$6,730 from the Community Decarbonisation Fund is helping the Trust replace its ageing solar system, which currently runs a single plug on sunny days, with a new on-grid solar installation. The upgrade will properly power the nursery for the first time: lighting, a seed storage fridge, office equipment, tool charging, and hot water on tap—not only for cups of tea, but for warm-water propagation, too. The system future-proofs the site as the operation grows, keeping ongoing costs low for an organisation that runs almost entirely on volunteer hours.
