Pūkaha Wildlife Centre Partnership

Partnership: Conservation department.

In 2022, we started two conservation programmes in partnership with Pūkaha Wildlife centre

The Academy Certificate in Introductory Conservation (Te Kura Tapere) Level 3 ran for school students at Pūkaha every Friday. The students were surrounded by the taonga of the conservation reserve and all it had to offer. Regardless of the reason for joining the course, the students could not help but become interested in the kaitiaki of the ngahere that was their classroom.

Two students received the Prime Minister’s Vocational Excellence Award for the work they did over the year for the Pūkaha programme.

New Zealand Certificate in Conservation (Operations) (Level 4) was a 1 year full time programme with classes at least 1 day a week at Pūkaha. Having the ngahere as their classroom provided an excellent resource and inspiration for the mātauranga Māori of the level 4 programme. It was an excellent resource for learning ecology and example of kaitiaki. Many of these students have ended up with work in the field, including at Pūkaha.