Biodiversity and restoration
Collaborating with others to protect and enhance Aotearoa’s unique ecosystems.
At Whirika, we’re dedicated to fostering partnerships between people and nature. We work with people at their place to create innovative and sustainable solutions that safeguard Aotearoa’s precious ecosystems.
With a focus on protecting our unique biodiversity, restoring ecosystems, and ensuring landscape resilience for future generations, our team is committed to making a lasting impact on the health of our environment.
Whether you’re seeking to enhance ecological values, mitigate greenhouse gas emissions through native afforestation, or plan for climate and water resilience, we prioritize environmental health in every solution we pursue.
Mike Thorsen
Jacinta Steeds
Kimberley Collins
Craig Wilson
Chris Garden
Rhys Millar
Keiko Hashiba
Liz Sherwood
Case studies
Predator Free Dunedin – a community collaboration
Over just a few years, the idea to coordinate predator control across Dunedin and beyond to bring back the birds became a reality. By bringing together twenty groups and agencies - including iwi, research institutes, government, and grass-roots community groups -...
Hunua Forest: Landscape-scale restoration
Watercare purchased Hūnua Forest to protect Auckland's water supply. Since 2018, Whirka has supported managers to undertake one of the largest native forest restoration projects in Aotearoa - to revert 2,300 ha of pine plantation to native forest. Why replace a...
Sustainable landuse – Future-proofing for Maori land trusts
Succession planning is challenging for many farms, but multi-generational dynamics, geographically dispersed whanau, and complex governance structures add extra challenges for Māori whenua trusts. Otago Peninsula can be a tough place to farm. It’s dry, steep, and...