HALO Whakatane

HALO Whakatane A community led conservation project in the EBOP aiming to create an unfenced sanctuary. We have a range of exciting projects around Whakatāne area.

With the current Covid 19 situation we will not be open to the public for the time being. If you require any assistance with things like trapping please get in touch via [email protected]

HALO Whakatāne aims to facilitate relationships amongst volunteers, to advocate for our environment, to educate our tamariki, and to strengthen the local pest control operations. The 'halo effect' in eco

logy is where efforts to protect one species radiates throughout the environment and unintentionally protects many others. Our kaiārahi is the tīeke, saddleback, which is an indicator species that is very sensitive to mammalian predation. Sometime in the future we hope to see tīeke from Moutohorā hopping around the streets of Whakatāne. HALO Whakatāne is a charitable trust which is fortunate to be supported by an active group of volunteers. How can you become involved? Become a backyard trapper and support our efforts to fill in the gaps! We have subsidised traps for people living in the Whakatāne area. If you’re curious to see our urban trapping network check out our website. Volunteer - and help us remove pest species. We hold a volunteer day monthly at Ōhope Spit, and are always keen for more faces to join our efforts. Contribute - to our pest control efforts. Are you a keen hunter? We are always needing more red meat to lure stoats into our predator boxes, and gratefully accept donations of dressed meat. Feel free to flick us a message or an email, or pop into the HALOHub on a Thursday to discuss how you can become involved in conservation in the local area.

It’s Volunteer Week and we’re taking the time to thank every person who gives their time, energy, and effort to our kaup...
19/06/2026

It’s Volunteer Week and we’re taking the time to thank every person who gives their time, energy, and effort to our kaupapa 🙌🏼

Every trap checked, seedling planted, pest removed, and support behind the scenes brings us closer to creating a habitat where tīeke can live and thrive in the heart of Whakatāne once again 🐦‍⬛

We’d like to acknowledge every person who has contributed to that vision. Whether you've given a few hours or many years, thank you for being part of the HALO whānau 💚

Thanks to Whaikaha - Ministry of Disabled People for sharing the story of Te Marama's platform at Ōtamakaokao 💚
17/06/2026

Thanks to Whaikaha - Ministry of Disabled People for sharing the story of Te Marama's platform at Ōtamakaokao 💚

Built with purpose 🌱The Kura Taiao roopū from Te Kura o te Paroa have been learning all about pest mammals this year, in...
10/06/2026

Built with purpose 🌱

The Kura Taiao roopū from Te Kura o te Paroa have been learning all about pest mammals this year, including monitoring their own traps around the kura.

These young kaitiaki recently put their learning into action, building trap boxes with us to help protect our tāonga species. These traps will be sold to the community during their Matariki week fundraiser.

Ka mau te wehi, Kura Taiao 💚

You’re invited to our HALO Community Lunch & AGM!This year is extra special as we celebrate 10 years of HALO Whakatāne 💚...
27/05/2026

You’re invited to our HALO Community Lunch & AGM!

This year is extra special as we celebrate 10 years of HALO Whakatāne 💚

We’re also excited to welcome guest speaker Sam Rowland, whose work and whakaaro around regeneration and resilience are inspiring communities across Aotearoa 🌳

Whether you’ve volunteered for us, bought or sponsored a trap, followed our mahi, or simply care about the future of our natural environment in, we’d love to have you there.

RSVP to Bridget by 15 June at [email protected] 💚

Ngā mihi to Productivity People Ltd for their continued support, and to Mata Beer for hosting us once again 🍻🍕

DOMP Comp 2026 has come to an end!Let’s celebrate the winning teams who have been out in the community, putting in the h...
26/05/2026

DOMP Comp 2026 has come to an end!

Let’s celebrate the winning teams who have been out in the community, putting in the hard yards to remove moth plant from our rohe 🌱

This was our fourth year running the competition, and one thing we really noticed was just how much harder it was to find moth plants compared to previous years.

Across the competition, teams removed 5,495 moth plant pods, compared to 31,823 last year. While this may seem like a huge drop, it’s actually an encouraging sign. It shows the collective efforts over the past four years are making a real and measurable impact in our community 🙌🏼

A huge congratulations to all of our winning teams, and a massive thank you to every student, teacher, whānau member and supporter who took part this year.

Swipe through to see our 2026 winners! 🏆

Not all of our trapping happens in the ngahere 👀We spotted a rat run past our office, so we decided to put a trap outsid...
22/05/2026

Not all of our trapping happens in the ngahere 👀

We spotted a rat run past our office, so we decided to put a trap outside…

Within ONE hour, we’d caught a rat 🐀
We reset the trap and a couple of hours later, another one…
We reset it again and boom, a third caught by the end of the day!

Three rats. One trap. One day. Right in the middle of town.

A good reminder that pest control isn’t just important in our forests and reserves. Urban trapping plays a huge role too.

Seen rats around your whare or business? Get in touch with us 🙌🏼

A space for connection, learning, and caring for te taiao 💚We were so excited to finally hold our first official session...
19/05/2026

A space for connection, learning, and caring for te taiao 💚

We were so excited to finally hold our first official session at the new platform at Ōtamakaokao with Te Marama students from Trident High School - the tauira (students) who were the driving force behind this project 👏🏼

We spent the morning bird watching, weeding pest plants, and mulching around recently planted natives, while soaking up the beauty of this special wāhi (place) 🌱

After such an incredible effort from the community to bring this back together, it was pretty special to finally see the platform being used as intended.

This is only the beginning of what we’re working on at Ōtamakaokao, and we can’t wait to share more as the vision continues to come to life 🙌🏼

DOMP Comp 2026 has officially come to an end! 👏🏼A huge thank you to all of our HALO Pest Detectives for the time, energy...
18/05/2026

DOMP Comp 2026 has officially come to an end! 👏🏼

A huge thank you to all of our HALO Pest Detectives for the time, energy and mahi you put into helping protect our rohe from this invasive pest, moth plant 💚

From small backyard missions to massive pod hauls, every single effort made a difference. Every moth plant pod removed helps stop up to 1,000 seeds from spreading and taking over new areas 🌱

One thing we really noticed this year was how much harder it was to find pods compared to previous years - a clear sign that the collective efforts over the past four years are making a real impact 🙌🏼

We’ll be finalising the numbers over the next few days and contacting winning teams later this week. In the meantime… can you guess how many pods were collected overall? 👀

Address

35 Quay Street
Whakatane
3120

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