Volunteer Resources

The Ark has 400 inspiring active volunteers who donate over 10,000 hours every year, to protect and restore our precious native forest. You can learn more about joining our volunteer team on the Get Involved page. This page contains information for the Ark’s volunteers and Bufferzone community.

Here you can find:

Looking for our bird sighting forms? They’ve moved – click here to find them.

Methods for Ark activities

To help our teams stay safe in the field and make it easier to remember all the steps of each activity, we’ve written out methods to be used at the Ark.

We’re also happy to share these with other conservation projects – if you’re involved with or know of other projects starting out please feel free to share these resources with them, and if you’d like an editable copy to adapt for another project, get in touch with the team! Please note: these are guides specifically written for use at the Ark in, addition to other protocol such as our H&S plan.

Pest control methods:

 

Biodiversity monitoring methods:

 

Other methods:

 

Health and Safety

Our current Health and Safety Plan can be found here. All volunteers are asked to carefully read this before starting field work at the Ark, and any questions can be sent through to the Ark team at nature.project@forestandbird.org.nz

When volunteers attend their first induction session, they will complete our Volunteer Agreement Form.

Kauri Dieback

To protect our precious Kauri, there is a rāhui in place across the Waitākere Ranges – learn more here, and check which tracks are open in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland here.

At the Ark in the Park, we carefully follow our Kauri Dieback SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) to allow us to continue our critical work protecting our precious native ecosystem. Please take the time to read this before your first induction session (contact nature.project@forestandbird.org.nz if you have any questions).

Covid-19 guidelines at the Ark

To keep each other safe at the Ark in the Park, we ask everyone to please not visit if you’re feeling unwell or if anyone in your household has Covid-19. Please check with Ark staff if you have any questions.

Thanks for working as a team to keep us and our ngahere safe!

Lost & Found

How do we keep everyone safe? If you’re heading out volunteering and it’s not during an organised session, as most of our trappers do, we have free fridge magnets to gift to your emergency contact.

Keeping this handy will mean they know what to do if you’re not home on time – if you’re the type to get distracted photographing the scenery, make sure you allow for more time when sharing your estimated return time [click image to enlarge].

Ark in the Park map

To manage our work and keep kauri safer the Ark is divided into the blocks shown based on hydrology. The red zones are areas of healthy kauri, where we limit access and take extra precautions. 

Please note: much of the Waitākere Ranges are closed due to the rāhui, including many of the tracks shown on this map. Please check Auckland Council’s website for the most up to date list of tracks which have been reopened following upgrades to keep kauri safer.