Help Grow a Forest at the Heart of Wellington

A Forest at the Heart of Wellington is a community-led restoration project which will plant 100,000 trees in Central Wellington to celebrate the Rotary Club of Wellington's Centenary which falls in 2021.

Work towards this ambitious target began in 1968 when the then president of Wellington Rotary, Sir Roy McKenzie, initiated the planting of trees on Lambton Quay. Since these initial efforts the club has planted over 45,000 trees across the city, with recent plantings being focussed on the slopes of Mt Victoria under the umbrella of "A Forest at the Heart of Wellington".

The central planting site for the forest is on town belt land adjacent to Government House and nearby Wellington Girls East and Wellington College. Additional sites have been added alongside Pirie and Marjoribanks Streets, and Alexandra Road, all of which will be expanded on as the pine trees which currently dominate the area naturally die and make space for further native plantings.

At the centre of the new forest is the Wellington community. All restoration activity is being undertaken by volunteers from local schools, businesses, neighbouring suburbs, and abroad. By lending their assistance to propagate, plant, and maintain thousands of native trees every year, these passionate volunteers are enriching their own lives and improving the environment for all to enjoy.

With a significant lift in annual plantings required to hit 100,000 trees by 2021, Rotary have partnered with Conservation Volunteers New Zealand to help push the project along. Together, Conservation Volunteers and Wellington Rotary have now finished construction of a native plant nursery to supply trees for the forest, and set out a comprehensive project plan to ensure that the forest becomes a reality.

Thanks to the Wellington Branch of Forest & Bird and the Wellington City Council for their donations of trees in 2017 we put more than 6000 trees in the ground. Now we're looking for your help to double this number in 2018!

Check out the cool project photos in the gallery tab!