It’s Te Wiki Tūao-ā-Motu National Volunteer Week and one conservation organisation wants to celebrate the volunteers that tirelessly support te taiao the natural world.

“Conservation Volunteers New Zealand is the coolest conservation charity you’ve never heard of,” spokesperson Lily Duval said.

“Volunteers are literally our middle name – we couldn’t do our mahi without them.

“Our volunteers are amazing. A couple of weeks ago, for World Environment Day, CVNZ volunteers planted 8,445 native plants in just two hours in a planting challenge.

“We plant a lot of native plants. Volunteers will plant our two millionth tree this year.

“We have volunteers that have been coming out with us every week for years. They don’t do it for the accolades but we want to make a fuss about them this National Volunteer Week,” Duval said.

“We run huge restoration projects in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and on the West Coast.

“I’m passionate about volunteering to restore our wild places. A morning of volunteering helps to fill my bucket,” Alison, volunteers with CVNZ in Ōtautahi.

CVNZ has been around since 2006. But they’ve been so busy planting native rākau (trees, shrubs and grasses), picking up rubbish, weeding invasive plants, and generally being good to nature that they’re not often in the media.

CVNZ has offices in Tāmaki Makaurau, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Ōtautahi and Te Tai Poutini. They run regular fun and accessible conservation events open to everyone.

Read more about CVNZ volunteers and mahi here: https://conservationvolunteers.co.nz/2024/06/10/mahi-with-meaning-meet-the-people-who-put-the-v-in-cvnz/

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