About

The Chatham Islands Landscape Restoration Trust is a group of islanders working collaboratively to bring conservation and ecosystem restoration projects to life.

We take a big-picture approach towards environmental restoration. We have a long-term focus, which means thinking about what we're doing right now and what we need to do over time to create the future we want. We also think at an ecosystem level, from the sea to the soil to the sky.

We believe conservation here works best when it brings together social, economic, cultural and environmental values, finding ways to benefit both our unique species and the people who live here. Our community’s livelihood depend on the island just as much as our taonga/miheke species’.

We also believe Chathams conservation projects have the best chance of success when they’re community-led. Part of our work is to bring our community together across the islands to develop and help run projects. But we also know the huge scope of work can’t be done alone.

Thankfully, there’s a wealth of conservation knowledge, experience and willingness out there for us to connect with. We’re keen for anyone who shares our vision to get in touch and get involved.

A land apart for people, plants and birds:
restoring nature’s gifts.

Our vision is the Chatham Islands bursting with life, from flourishing forests to thriving coastlines and waterways. Trees and plants thrive, providing shelter from wild wilds and erosion and habitat for unique wildlife. Birds pushed out to the islands' edges and the brink of extinction return and enter our daily lives.

Black robins flit about your garden as you drink your morning coffee. Snipe poke round the tracks as you go for a walk with the kids, and at night you hear the crashing and calling of titi as they come to their burrows at night. Parea and kākāriki fly overhead round town and shore plover skitter along the sandy beaches.

The korowai is restored across parts of the islands, and we can celebrate our cultural knowledge and practices like we used to. Our gardens, nurseries and orchards don’t suffer the damage caused by pests like possums. This thriving environment creates new opportunities for sustainable economic growth – opportunities that can carry us and our future generations forward.