Your Sanctuary. Your Impact.
Southern Lakes Sanctuary is powered by people — locals, visitors, families, businesses and nature-lovers all doing their bit to bring the wild back to life.
Whether you’ve got an hour a week, a backyard to trap in, or simply want to follow along and share our mission, there’s a place for you.
Get hands on
Join a local group: Connect with others in your community working to restore nature — find your local group below.
Start backyard trapping: Set a trap at home and help protect native wildlife from your own backyard.
Not able to volunteer right now? Donate to your local group to help fund tools, traps and resources for those doing the mahi on the ground.
The Central Otago Lakes Branch of Forest & Bird have a volunteer trapping program in Makarora with volunteers car-sharing from Wānaka and Hawea, and planting projects around the region.
To volunteer or donate please contact Andrew Penniket:
Whakatipu Wildlife Trust is an umbrella for over 70 trapping groups in the Queenstown-Arrowtown area and greater catchment of Lake Whakatipu.
To volunteer or donate please contact Anna Harding-Shaw:
E: hello@whakatipuwildlifetrust.org.nz
W: whakatipuwildlifetrust.org.nz
Mātakitaki Conservation Group is a consortium of 11 groups including the Matukituki Charitable Trust that run trap lines along or adjacent to the Mātakitaki/Matukituki River.
To volunteer or donate please contact Sam Reay:
E: samr@southernlakessanctuary.org.nz
E: info@mctrust.co.nz
W: www.mctrust.co.nz
Routeburn-Dart Wildlife Trust runs multiple trap-lines near Glenorchy focussing on the Routeburn, Dart and Rees rivers.
To volunteer or donate please contact KJ Jennings:
E: info@rdwt.org
W: rdwt.org
Predator Free Wānaka provide traps for backyards in the Upper Clutha and run trapping lines on the Hawea-Gladstone Track, Albert Town Lagoon, Mt Iron, Wānaka and Luggate Creek.
To volunteer or donate please contact Guy Kennedy:
Mahu Whenua covering over 53,000 hectares across four iconic high country stations, Mahu Whenua is the largest conservation undertaking on private land in New Zealand’s history.
For more information:
W: mahuwhenua.co.nz
W: qeiinationaltrust.org.nz
Donate to power a wilder future
Your donation helps protect one of Aotearoa’s most iconic and threatened landscapes.
By supporting Southern Lakes Sanctuary, you’re backing large-scale predator control, species recovery and the community groups driving real change on the ground.
Every dollar helps restore the wild heart of the Southern Lakes — and brings us closer to a thriving, predator-free future.