New Zealand’s nature is special and unique, but many people don’t know it’s also in serious trouble. More than 4000 native species are threatened or at risk of extinction – one of the highest proportions in the world.
In January 2025, Sarah Wilcox was part of a volunteer crew doing maintenance work on the Island Hill Homestead near Rakiura Stewart Island’s west coast.
Get a DOC open hunting permit online.
We need your help to grow funding for nature. By donating to these DOC nature projects you can help protect endangered species and habitats.
DOC is encouraging people to prepare to grab their spot when bookings open for popular huts, campsites and Great Walks later this month.
Bookings for Great Walks, huts, campsites and lodges are open for stays up to 30 June 2025. Bookings for the 2025/26 season open in May 2025.
DOC has reopened more of the popular Hooker Valley Track in Aoraki Mount Cook National Park, as work starts on a spectacular new suspension bridge.
Planning is underway to get Hahei Beach Walk rerouted and open in time for next summer.
A takahē and a tuatara have been filmed engaging in a bush-floor stoush in a new video captured by a quick-thinking DOC Ranger.
A new meat bait to target feral cats is showing great promise in recent field trials and could be a game changer in work to save nature.