Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo Local Conservation Grants

Saving Wellington and the Chatham Islands’ Wildlife and Wild Places

Conservation is at the heart of everything we do at Wellington Zoo. Thanks to the support of our community and Zoo visitors that contribute to the Wellington Zoo Partners in Conservation Fund, we are offering local conservation grants. These grants will provide funding for projects or programmes with clear community conservation value for native wildlife and wild places. We want to support projects in our wider community and invite applications from the Greater Wellington Region and the Chatham Islands (part of our local Rongotai electorate).

Grants will be awarded up to a maximum of $5,000 and most grants will be between $1,500 - $3,000.

Applications for 2024/25 have closed. The next round of applications will be open from mid-2025. 

Please apply electronically using the application form below. Completed forms should be emailed to: conservation@wellingtonzoo.com

Local Conservation Grant Recipients 2024/2025

Love Rimurimu Kura Kelper seaweed planting and monitoring (Mountains to Sea)  

This project guides kura kids in their efforts to plant kelp at a local restoration site and oversees the follow up monitoring. Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo has supported this kaupapa before and has seen first-hand how effective the project is in producing conservation outcomes and learning.  

Stakes for MEG restoration planting, Mt Albert/Melrose (Melrose Environmental Group)  

The grant for this project will help a community group purchase stakes for restoration planting native plants in Melrose. The effort is relevant to our local community and will supports local biodiversity.

He Kōtare Native Nursery – Back up power supply for nursery irrigation (Pae Tū Mōkai ō Tauira)  

Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo has supported Pae Tū Mōkai ō Tauira twice before with Local Conservation Grants. Pae Tū Mōkai ō Tauira have established a nursery to provide plants for restoration projects across the region, with a focus on endangered species. The grant will support several restoration projects and aid in the purchase of a back-up generator for Pae Tū Mōkai ō Tauira’s nursery irrigation system.  

General Predator Free Northland Work (Predator Free Northland)  

Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo supported Predator Free Northland with a Local Conservation Grant last year and have committed to supporting another year of work trapping predators throughout the Northland region. The grant will supply funding for A24 traps and victor traps.  

Ngahere Korowai (Wesley Community Action)  

Funding for this project will aid the purchase of wet weather gear, gloves, and promotional material for a men’s restoration group in Porirua. This project is a great combination of positive social and biodiversity outcomes.

Predator Free Chathams (Chatham Islands Landscape Restoration Trust)  

Funding for this project will purchase AT220 traps for an ambitious predator free project on the Chatham Islands. The efforts will make a huge difference to conservation in the area and is already alerady receiving support from the Department of Conservation.  

Protecting urban kākā from unintentional poisoning (Emma Smith, VUW MSc student)  

This project will use their Local Conservation Grant to purchase trail cameras and SD cards for monitoring the outcomes of an experiment to prevent kākā being poisoned by brodifacoum, which is used to control possums. The work of this student is directly related to Te Kōhanga The Nest’s work as they often treat kākā who have suffered poisoning, and to our partnership with Zealandia. 

Are mitigation translocations achieving positive outcomes for lizard conservation in New Zealand and how can we improve them? (Diana Methner, VUW PhD student) 

Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo is supporting this project by providing the funding to purchase equipment for an experiment testing rock piles for their usefulness in creating habitats for lizards following translocations. This project has the potential to have massive implications forwill inform conservation management and is particularly relevant to to the Zoo’s own conservation programmes related to lizard translocations.