Be a volunteer

The Yellow-eyed Penguin Trust is a community-based organisation dependent on volunteers to support its work. Opportunities for volunteering with the Trust are plenty, from governance to one-off community conservation days or regular volunteer days.

These opportunities include:

• Become a trustee and assist in the governance of this long-established and respected conservation NGO.
• ‘Wednesday Volunteers’ help in the nursery, raising seedlings and planting trees.
• ‘Habitat Volunteers’ volunteering to help in the habitats with the Trust involves many different types of work, including planting, trap checking, weed control, and penguin monitoring and in lots of different types of terrain from sandy beaches to headlands and hills, forest and shrublands.

  The following suggested gear list is meant to be a good guide to being safe out there. Those essential items are in bold.Personal clothing – lots of warm layers (fleece / wool) – please no cotton layers which will move heat away from the body once it is wet, and a waterproof outer layer (eg rain coat). Layers mean you can remove or add them as temperatures rise and fall.

  Waterproof over trousers are very useful in bad conditions

  Footwear – boots (tramping or gumboots)

  You may not need all these items , but by carrying them you are prepared for anything and weather conditions in southern New Zealand can change VERY QUICKLY

  Optional – First Aid kit – bring one if you have it – although the Trust will always have some on hand.

  All of the above need to be carried, a day pack of 20-30 litres is a good size option.

• ‘Office Volunteers’ assist at the Trust’s Dunedin-based office doing anything from writing articles for the newsletter, to stuffing envelopes and fundraising.

If you wish to register as a volunteer, contact the Trust Office

The Trust’s volunteer work does not involve handling penguins. That work requires a special wildlife handling permit from the Department of Conservation.

We are tremendously grateful to all the volunteers for their valuable contributions to our work.