Ruamahanga Restoration Trust

Advancing conservation and safeguarding environmental heritage beneficial to our rivers, youth, and rural communities across the Wairarapa.

Wellington

The Ruamahanga Restoration Trust funds native tree plantings and supports schools, community groups, and landowners by raising awareness about the need for natural heritage conservation projects that are beneficial to youth and our natural habitats within the Ruamahanga catchment.

We work with schools, landowners, and rural community groups to help reverse the decline of forest remnants and wetlands, and encourage the protection and return of birdlife and endangered species as a means to protect the area's biodiversity and to ensure a clean, healthy river network for future generations.

Each donation sum contributes as follows:

$50 2 x native trees for school planting activities

$100 4 x native trees for school planting activities

$200 1 x predator trapping kits

$500 1 x biodiversity science kit for schools

$1,000 1 x restoration planting on a forest remnant block or wetland

$5,000 1 x restoration planting on a forest remnant block or wetland

$10,000 part-time outdoor restoration employment for school leavers

More about us

The Ruamahanga Restoration Trust funds the planting of native trees and educational conservation projects that support schools, landowners, and rural communities across the Wairarapa.

As a non-profit, our goal is to help restore and regenerate streams, wetlands, and pockets of native bush along the length and breadth of Ruamahanga River and its many tributaries, which in turn will help protect native fish species and create bird corridors from Pūkaha to Kawakawa Palliser Bay.

For us, this means starting with our Schools Behind Our River project to deliver hands-on learning opportunities for school students to embrace environmental conservation projects that connect local communities with the health of their river catchment, Māori heritage, and sustainable biodiversity goals.

The Ruamahanga Restoration Trust embraces traditional values, mātauranga Māori, sustainable farming practices, and the use of new technologies as a means to mitigate the effects of climate change and protect our natural environment for future generations.