New Zealand’s nature is what makes us special. Over 80% of New Zealand’s wildlife is found nowhere else on earth. Much of this occurs in National Parks and public conservation land away from people.  Yet 86% of New Zealander’s live in urban areas.

Urban Wildlife Trust is a not for profit organisation connecting people with urban wildlife through citizen science, technology & social media. Our aim is to help restore, sustain and enhance the mauri of urban nature, and ensure native wildlife is an integral part of people’s daily life.

Our mission is to deliver projects, innovation and advice to support the restoration and celebration of indigenous wildlife in towns and cities.

Nature is central to creating livable cities and cities play an important role in supporting nature.

We are proud to be part of a community sharing the kaupapa of the significance of indigenous urban nature, and kaitiakitanga of native wildlife.

Connecting people and nature

with science & technology

Support the Urban Wildlife Trust

Urban Wildlife 100% NZ made

Beauty found in every corner

Urban Wildlife Connections

Otago Shag Colony Sumpter Wharf, Ōamaru Live Cam

*NEW* View This Project

Live Cam

Live Cam allows people to connect and engage with wildlife 24/7 in real time by streaming high definition video through the internet.

Great Kererū Count

New Zealand’s biggest citizen science project it is also the only centralised data gathered to monitor the overall national trends of this significant bird.

Kererū Discovery

A dedicated project to the education and protection one of New Zealand’s most valuable species.

Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony Cam

View Project

Urban Wildlife Trust were fantastic to work with on our nest and viewing camera project. From organising the equipment, the installation and their support following install, their work and support has been very much appreciated. The live-streams have been working wonderfully and have proven very popular!

Dr Philippa Agnew - Science and Environmental Manager, Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony

Recent & Current Urban Wildlife Projects

NIWA Kororā Colony interpretation panels

Coming Soon

Recent & Current Urban Wildlife Projects

Porirua Harbour Wildlife Cam

*NEW* View This Protect

Kākāpō LIVE Nest Cam on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island

View LIVE Stream via DOC YouTube Channel

Kākāpō Nest Cam Highlights

View Highlights via UWT YouTube Channel

Wellington Cable Car Bird Strike Prevention Stage One

Stage One of this Project Has Finished

Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony Cam

View Project

Tiritiri Matangi Island Live Cam

View Project

NIWA
Kororā Cam Project

View Project
Project Window Strike /
Global Bird Collision Mapper
Great Kererū Count
Project Has Finished

Big thanks to all our supporters and donors.

Support the Urban Wildlife Trust

Tumbleweed Tees
$95

2023

“Tumbleweed Tee’s has been supporting Kererū Discovery through a percentage of sales via their Kererū T-Shirt”

Tumbleweed TeeTumbleweed Tee

Urban Wildlife Website Donation
$50

2023

If you would like to help with the work we do here at Urban Wildlife Trust you can make donations via the button below

Make a donationMake a donation

Tumbleweed Tees
$52.38

2023

“Tumbleweed Tee’s has been supporting Kererū Discovery through a percentage of sales via their Kererū T-Shirt”

Tumbleweed TeeTumbleweed Tee

Wellington City Gallery
$200

2022

“Urban Wildlife Trust speaking at the Experts Respond public programme at the City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi”

City Gallery WellingtonCity Gallery Wellington

Department Of Conservation
$2,145.34

2022

“The Live Streaming Kākāpō Cam on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island.”

Kākāpō CamKākāpō Cam

Waitaki District Council - Funding
$2,500

2022

“This funding grant went towards the delivery of the new Otago Shag Colony Sumpter Wharf, Ōamaru Wildlife Cam”

View Sumpter Wharf ProjectView Sumpter Wharf Project

Wellington Airport Community Awartds
Upper Hutt - Environmental Award Winner
$1,000

2021

“Wellington International Airport, Wellington Community Trust, and the five local councils come together to recognise the work carried out by community groups in the wider Wellington region. The focus of the awards is to celebrate volunteers for their valuable contribution to society”

Wellington Airport Community AwardsWellington Airport Community Awards

Wellington Zoo Conservation Grant
$1,425

2021

“Conservation is at the heart of everything we do at Wellington Zoo. This grant has gone towards the Wellington Cable Car Bird Strike Prevention Project”

Wellington ZooWellington Zoo

Givealittle Fundraiser + Website donations
$11,443.75

2021

“May 2021 Urban Wildlife Trust set up a crowdsourcing project on GiveaLittle for a period of 12 weeks. On 2 June 2021, the Cable Car Company posted on social media giving full support and committed to contributing funding to the project.
After weeks of hard work and media coverage getting the story out in the public, as of 26 October 2021 Urban Wildlife Trust has successfully raised a total of $11,443.75 made up from Givealittle funds and website donations” 

GivealittleGivealittle

Nelson City Council
$2,000

2021

“Nelson City Council’s Nelson Nature programme is delighted to support the Great Kererū Count. Every year we see more people becoming engaged with nature through the Great Kereru Count, and we really value the way the count supports community efforts to protect habitat and control predators.”

Nelson City CouncilNelson City Council

City Sanctuary - DCC
$5,000

2021

“It’s fun to count our kererū and see our community inspired to protect them. It’s all part of having a healthy environment we care about.”

City Sanctuary for DunedinCity Sanctuary for Dunedin

Wellington City Council
$5,000

2021

“Wellington City Council is proud to be supporting this citizen science project dedicated to gathering vital data to help protect kererū”

Wellington City CouncilWellington City Council

Tumbleweed Tees
$56.12

2021

“Tumbleweed Tee’s has been supporting Kererū Discovery through a percentage of sales via their Kererū T-Shirt”

Tumbleweed TeeTumbleweed Tee

2022 Partnered Community/Citizen Science Projects

Help save the world’s birds during Global Bird Rescue from October 3-9, 2022. Join FLAP Canada, Urban Wildlife Trust and bird conservation groups and members of the public around the world to rescue and document birds that have collided with buildings in your community, while working to make the built environment safer for birds.

This Project finished October 9th 2022

Urban Wildlife Team

Dr Stephen Hartley

UWT Trustee 2021 - Present

Stephen is the Associate Professor of Ecology and Conservation at Victoria University of Wellington Te Herenga Waka, Stephen’s work often involves community driven conservation. That means being involved with groups like Predator Free Wellington, the Aorangi Restoration Trust, the Sanctuary to Sea project, and the Wairio Wetland Trust. His current research includes monitoring forest biodiversity in response to the control of introduced animals, wetland restoration, and urban nature. Stephen also works on the Great Kererū Count providing valuable data for the past 8 year's.

Stephen loves the fact that tūī, kererū and kākā (three charismatic birds) serenade him on the way to work, eating stir fried noodles from Jasmine Thai, and ecological restoration.

Amber Bill

UWT Trustee 2018 - Present

Amber has over 25 years’ experience in conservation work, including ecological field work, open space and parks management, conservation science, biodiversity and environmental policy development, and community engagement. Amber now works at the Department of Conservation where she is Director, Biodiversity Threats - Kaihautū, Āo Mōrearea.
Amber is passionate about connecting people with nature, mainstreaming biodiversity, and delivering conservation through community action.

While working at Wellington City Council, Amber developed and lead a programme positioning Wellington’s urban nature as a competitive advantage, established strategic partners, and ensured that the contribution of nature to quality-of-life was front and centre of the Wellington Story. Strategic initiatives as part of this project included showcase projects (Two Million Trees, Blue Belt, Project Halo, Smart Capital Energy), Water Sensitive Urban Design Guide, foundational membership of the International Biophilic Cities programme, and an urban ecology research partnership with Victoria University of Wellington.

Amber’s leadership across environmental initiatives has led her to national roles in policy development at the Ministry for the Environment, and science and biodiversity strategic leadership at the Department of Conservation.

Tony Stoddard

UWT Trustee 2018 - Present

With over 29 years’ experience in digital design and photography, Tony is a published illustrator, worked as a corporate senior designer for many years and is a wildlife photographer with regular exhibitions.

Since 2013 Tony has been delivering the annual Great Kererū Count, New Zealand’s biggest citizen science project, and he runs Kererū Discovery, a non-profit conservation project set up to help with the protection and education for one of New Zealand's most important endemic birds.
Tony lives with his wife Amber and their son Jesse in Akatarawa, just north of Wellington City.

Originally from Tauranga, he has lived in Wellington for over 25 years, and in the last 10 years has become a self-confessed bird nerd…and don’t even get him started on kererū which is his favourite bird and which, over many years of careful observation he has become an expert in.

Myfanwy Emeny

UWT Trustee 2018 - Present

Myfanwy Emeny has worked with urban wildlife for almost twenty years. She gained her MSc (Ecology) at Massey University and initially thought she would work with wildlife in remote locations. However, she quickly realised that our urban population was missing an important opportunity to connect with native species and started working on the challenge of integrating nature into our capital city.

She is a self-proclaimed generalist, working across plant, bird, lizard, fish and invertebrate species. She formed the first Council ‘Urban Ecology’ team and has worked across a range of urban wildlife issues. Myfanwy wrote the award-winning Wellington biodiversity strategy - ‘Our Natural Capital’, which a range of innovative programmes sits under. These include investigating metabolic bone disease in kākā chicks, increasing recognition for our urban lizard population, developing Wellington’s cat policy, establishing a dedicated research grant for studying urban wildlife, developing consistent freshwater monitoring protocols and working on Predator Free Wellington. She shares these stories around the country, presenting on the challenges faced by urban wildlife.

Myfanwy is currently the Open Space and Parks Manager at Wellington City Council, continuing to ensure that we weave biodiversity through the city’s DNA.

Matt Robertson

UWT Trustee 2018 - Present

Matt's passion for wildlife conservation started with an opportunistic encounter with a university master’s student whilst working as park Ranger for Department of Conservation (DOC) at Tongariro National Park in New Zealand’s central North Island. Matt took the opportunity to help the student with monitoring a population of endangered North Island Brown Kiwi and learning of their decline decided to start a career in conservation. Since then Matt has worked for and supported Government and non-government agencies including Wellington city council and Zealandia Eco Sanctuary.

In his spare time, Matt coordinates a small group of volunteers to look after a local Reserve. He also loves mountain biking and spending time with his wife and fellow trustee Edith and son Carl. Matt is currently Director at Urban Nature Services Ltd.

Kelly Hare

Founding UWT Trustee 2018 -2020

Kelly Hare is a conservation biologist with expertise in ecology, physiology and reproductive biology, particularly of the endemic herpetofauna. She has held a lectureship in Ecological Restoration at Victoria University of Wellington and a FRST-funded postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Otago.

At Victoria University of Wellington, Kelly developed and implemented a new masters programme in ecological restoration, and her interest in supporting post-graduate education led to her present position as Scholarships Manager at the University of Waikato.

Kelly’s commitment to environmental initiatives led to roles such as an invited international member of the Biophilic Cities Steering Committee. Kelly has served as associate scientific editor for the Journal of the Royal Society of NZ and NZ Journal of Ecology and has been an advisor to conservation organisations including the IUCN Redlist, ZEALANDIA, and NZ Department of Conservation.

Edith Boettcher

Founding UWT Trustee 2018 -2022

Short Biography - Edith Boettcher

Edith has been working in the property industry for 16 years and is currently with a Wellington commercial property firm as their General Manager.

Outside of work, she is on the Property Council’s National Committee for Diversity and Inclusion and on the board of the Wellington Women’s House.

Edith was born in Germany and grew up in a small town in the Eastern part of the country. She immigrated to NZ in 2001 and her family made a conscious decision about staying and living in New Zealand and Wellington in particular. She loves how connected the CBD is to the surrounding suburbs and the green spaces which allows convenient access to mountain biking and walking and she loves how the city welcomes and celebrates cultural diversity.

Contact Urban Wildlife Trust

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari, he toa takitini
"Success is not the work of one, but the work of many"

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Connecting people with nature