Welcome to The Kaipatiki Project 
and Environment Centre

We are a community based organisation providing environmental education and nature restoration services located on the North Shore, Auckland.

We offer a wide range of environmental talks, workshops and support for the public, and education programmes for schools and groups. Call us to request a speaker for your club, event or group. We also organise volunteer days for groups and companies - come and get your hands dirty planting trees or weeding  - all materials, training and fun provided.

Our resources are available to the general public, schools and community groups on a number of topics such as waste minimisation, storm water, pollution, mangroves, pests and predators, flora and fauna, noxious weeds and plant propagation.

New look for Kaipatiki Project

Get Involved!
As a community based organisation, we rely on volunteers and members (from $20 per year membership). Please see the volunteers page for more information on how you can help out - every skill and effort helps.

Come to Courses!
Find out about our adult education courses, activities and upcoming workshops.

> NEW COURSES FOR 2010!!!
> Eat Your Own Eden - organic vege gardening short courses with Dee Pigneguy

Grow your own delicious seasonal veges with confidence - author and tutor Dee Pigneguy will show you how to start from scratch and get your vege patch working for you. There are one-day courses covering all the basics of getting your garden up and running, plus a whole series of half-day crash courses on everything from raising beds to raising chickens. All courses take place at the Kaipatiki Project Centre Nursery & Teaching Gardens, 17 Lauderdale Road, Birkdale, North Shore. Check out the full course list here.

> BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!
> Nursery Bites FREE native plant propagation mini-workshops

Choose one or two bite-size topics from this 9 week programme, or take the whole series, which runs on Thursday mornings from 18 February to 25 March 2010.
Workshops take place at the Kaipatiki Centre nursery (17 Lauderdale Road, Birkdale) and take participants into the beautiful bush nearby. Please click here for more information.
Bookings are essential as places are limited - please email restoration@kaipatiki.org.nz or phone 482 1172.

> Create Your Own Eden

FREE composting and worm-farming courses - find one in your area - please click here for the course timetables in Auckland, Manukau & North Shore.

NEW!!! Take an educational bush-walk with Discovery Walks
Enrol now for walks starting in February, April & June 2010
Kaipatiki Project is starting to offer the 'Bush Walk & Talk' series of educational leisure walks on behalf of Discovery Walks. Organised throughout the year, these series of 5 two-hour walks will help participants identify common NZ native trees, plants, flowers and pest plants whilst taking in the beauty of some of the North Shore 's most popular reserves. The cost is $50 for each series of five walks. Please click here to find out more.

You can call us (482 1172) or visit us at our environment centre during Monday to Friday 9am - 3pm. Please call first to ensure that the person you want to see will be here (we may be busy with a group, teaching or out in the reserves).

Don't forget to book for courses as they fill up quickly!

We look forward to seeing you at Kaipatiki.

Special News & Acknowledgments
Any regular visitors to the Kaipatiki Project's Environment Centre cannot have failed to notice the make-over which has been made possible recently through the generosity of some very special companies. Interface NZ, specialists in sustainable flooring, provided and laid a new carpet throughout much of the centre - hard-wearing and totally recyclable, the new carpet tiles bring a much needed fresh look to our HQ. As does the new paint-job, with bright, new colours provided by Guthrie Bowron, the paint specialists, in Browns Bay.

Sponsorship like this makes a huge difference to the Centre, for the first-time visitor as well as for everyone who works there, whether part-time paid staff, or as a volunteer. A very special acknowledgment of thanks goes to Penny Andersen, ex-committee member and volunteer sponsorship/events organiser, who has over the past two years worked extremely hard on Kaipatiki's behalf to secure all manner of goods and services for the organisation.

Penny bowed out on a high note following the hugely successful Green Drinks event hosted by Kaipatiki Project at its Environment Centre on 8 December 2009. Green Drinks is an international green networking movement which organises monthly get-togethers, and Kaipatiki was thrilled to host the Auckland region one on a beautiful evening outside the centre. Thanks to Penny, Jane Avery, Julia Lindesay, Kate Jackson and Lisa Ridehalgh for organising the event, and to all our event sponsors for the delicious food and drink supplied so generously. Click here for a full sponsors list.

Well done also to IAG NZ Ltd, our corporate volunteer partners for 2009 & 2010, for winning the Overall Large Exemplar award in the Sustainable 60 Series which recognises companies whose practices are about more than just building environmental awareness. Since February 2009, nine different teams from IAG NZ have taken a day out from their Auckland call-centre to 'give back' to the community by coming to Kaipatiki Project to help carry out restoration work in Witheford & Eskdale reserves, totalling up over 300 volunteer hours.