Program Details

Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Dates: Spring 2025: April 10–May 23, 2025
Fall 2025: October 2—November 14, 2025
Spring 2026: April 9—May 22, 2026

Applications: Accepted on a rolling admission basis

Accommodations: Primarily camping, occasional youth hostel or rural lodge

Credits: 15 quarter credits or 10 semester credits

Language: English instruction

Courses: Environmental Wildlands Studies, Environmental Field Survey, Wildlands Environment and Culture

Prerequisites: One college level course in environmental studies, environmental science, ecology or similar. 18 years of age

Program Costs

Application Fee

Paid when you submit your application. Refundable until you are formally accepted into a program.

Program Fee

Your tuition for the program, paid directly to Wildlands Studies.

In-Country Logistics Fee

Covers most on-the-ground expenses such as transportation during the program, camping and lodging fees, park and nature reserve entrance fees, permits, study facilities and other related logistical costs. For some programs, this fee also covers a portion of your meals. This fee is paid directly to Wildlands Studies.

Estimated Airfare and Mandatory Travel Insurance

Airfare costs are covered by the student and vary depending on your starting location and airline ticket prices. Travel insurance is required for our programs. Details about airfare and travel insurance will be provided in the Logistics Packet.

Estimated Food and Personal Expenses

Our estimate for the out-of-pocket expenses you will incur during the program for items such as food, snacks, drinks, laundry, entry visa and personal items. This amount will vary from student to student depending on spending habits.

New Zealand Spring 2025
$      150    Application Fee
$   7,000    Program Fee
$   4,450    In-Country Logistics Fee
$   2,100    Estimated Airfare and Mandatory Travel Insurance
$   1,500    Estimated Food and Personal Spending

$15,200    Total Estimated Cost
Spring 2025: Program fees due by February 1, 2025

New Zealand Fall 2025 and Spring 2026
$      150    Application Fee
$   7,500    Program Fee
$   4,550    In-Country Logistics Fee
$   2,100    Estimated Airfare and Mandatory Travel Insurance
$   1,500    Estimated Food and Personal Spending

$15,800    Total Estimated Cost
Fall 2025: Program fees due by August 1, 2025
Spring 2026: Program fees due by February 1, 2026

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The Program

With an array of diverse ecosystems, an incredible number of endemic species and a captivating human history, New Zealand provides an excellent setting for our ecological field study. The program will take us to some of the most extreme, isolated, and ecologically unique landscapes on the planet, while also connecting us with Māori and local groups.

Our field course will begin with the exploration of New Zealand’s volcanic and culturally rich North Island. Here, amongst colorful parrots and old growth forests, we will hone our species identification skills and examine concepts in island ecology. As we travel south through the volcanically active center of the North Island, we will investigate the complex geology and human history of the region, while further developing our naturalist skills.

We will spend time in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, before crossing the Cook Strait to the South Island. While on the South Island we will hike through the mountains of the Kahurangi, travel the rugged west coast, and explore the alpine valleys of the majestic Southern Alps. Through visiting national parks, cultural sites, and homesteads, we will dive into concepts of traditional land management, disturbance ecology, and restoration ecology. Next we will visit New Zealand’s tallest peak, Mt. Cook, where we will examine alpine and subalpine ecology. Towards the end of the class we expect to work and hike among the lush Fiordlands of Southwest New Zealand. Here, we will design and complete an independent study of the region’s flora and fauna. Finally, we will end the class in breathtaking Queenstown.

Throughout our field study, team members will take part in key conservation and restoration projects while also designing an independent ecological study. Together we will closely investigate natural resource management policies, and with the hope to work directly with local organizations on issues concerning animal reintroduction and invasive species management. By the close of the program, each of us will have gained an intimate understanding of New Zealand's fascinating ecology and cultural history, its historical and current environmental challenges, and restoration and conservation efforts being taken to address them.

Stories From the Field

Kuba Naum

New Zealand 2023 Alumni

“Truly a program like no other. The places I got to see and the epic hikes I got to go on were some of the most amazing experiences of my life. And by the end of the program, we were all so close it was hard to say goodbye.”

 

WATCH Kuba’s Video

Program Photo Gallery

Kayla Keyes

Lead instructor

MA in Biology, Miami University of Oxford, 2019

Kayla is a marine biologist and ocean advocate based in the North Island of New Zealand. She specializes the human connection with marine and coastal ecosystems to design community-based conservation initiatives. Kayla has worked as an environmental educator in a variety of global marine hotspots including Florida, Australia, and New Zealand. She currently works in New Zealand as a marine researcher and the Education Director for the Tangaroa Research Institute of Oceanographic Studies as well as with Māori groups to understand local culture & customs in connection with te moana (the ocean). Kayla leads our New Zealand and Australia programs.

Kayla’s Other program: