The Friends of Whatipu engage in many activities, over the last 8 years Friends of Whatipu projects include the following:

• Conducted bi annual beach cleanups over the shore between Whatipu and Karekare in conjunction with the Karekare Landcare Group and the ARC Parks staff.
• Joined with the ARC in annual tree planting projects, providing labour to plant several thousand trees.
• Helped ARC plants staff collect seeds for ARC nursery.
• Raised money to pay a professional predator control and trapping expert to lay and monitor lines to protect breeding New Zealand dotterels and other native shore birds on the sand dunes. This project has been ongoing for 6 years and in the last two seasons has been augmented to include the dune foreshore back to the cliff or forest line. Many stoats, rats and hedgehogs (all predators of shore bird eggs) have been caught and the numbers of shore birds fledged in the area has increased. FOW has reports on this activity going back 5 years.
• Held informative talks on ecology and history of the area, and organised walks to areas of historical and ecological importance.
• Maintained and raised money (in conjunction with ARC) for a small museum in the grounds of Whatipu Lodge illustrating the historical heritage.
• Liased with ARC staff over matters such as siting of toilets, weed control, heritage values (such as the booklet on Whatipu), and visitor management at Whatipu, and maintained lines of communication with ARC Parks department at Arataki and with other conservation groups in the Waitakeres.

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