Growing our future

Join our planting events because one of the best actions we can take to improve our natural environment is to plant native trees.

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington is working with Wellington City Council and Conservation Volunteers New Zealand to help restore native forests around the Wellington region through the Growing our Future project. This is the second year we have run this project, which allows us to contribute to the region while offsetting carbon and getting the University closer our zero carbon (PDF) goal.

Volunteer for Growing our Future planting days

We are pleased to invite University staff, students, and alumni to join us at one of our volunteer planting days. We will take care of all the logistics of transport to and from site plus lunch for the day—all you’ll need to do is bring weather appropriate gear and be prepared to get stuck in. Please note there will be a 20–30 minute walk over a sometimes steep gravel and dirt track to reach the planting site in the morning, and then back in the afternoon.

Volunteering will be split over three days. You are welcome to attend the planting on Saturday if you wish but as this is on the weekend it will not count as your volunteer leave day.

Planting days are on Thursday 21, Friday 22 or Saturday 23 July 2022.

Employee volunteer programme

Under the Employee Volunteer Programme University staff* are entitled to take one day of paid volunteer leave. This project has been approved for use of your volunteer day—you will just need to check with your manager about the timing. You can volunteer as an individual or get the whole team along for the day (each individual needs to register). Please note—If you are a staff member you are welcome to attend the Saturday but as this is on the weekend it will not count as your volunteer leave day.

Once you’ve checked with your manager and know what day you intend to volunteer, please go into the HR Kiosk and formally request the volunteer leave day.

*All University employees, except casual or fixed term employees for less than six months, are entitled to one day of paid volunteer leave each year for this purpose. You can find more information about the Employee Volunteer Programme on the staff intranet.

Chip in a tree

With over 20,000 trees still needing to go in the ground, every action taken - either getting stuck in to help plant, or chipping in the cost of a tree - will get us one step closer to reaching our goal of reforesting this site.