The first National Welcome Forest just sprung up at Jardine Park, Kelvin Heights in Queenstown last weekend. This is a great collaborative effort between Trees that Count, the Queenstown Lakes District Council, Z Energy and Wakatipu Restoration Trust.

We are so pleased that the ideas we were discussing with former race relations commisioner Joris de Bres some time ago have come this far. Read this article to find out about the essence and vision of National Welcome Forests – Te Waonui a Tane – and the new Queenstown Welcome Forest.

We are also looking forward to the next three Welcome Forests starting over the next months – and would just love to see a Welcome Forest in every region of Aotearoa New Zealand one day!