Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage today announced the largest addition of land to an existing national park in New Zealand’s history. A total of 64,400 hectares of conservation land in the Mokihinui River catchment on the West Coast north of Westport, including 15 km of riverbed, is being added to Kahurangi National Park. “Adding this area, roughly half the size of Auckland City, to Kahurangi is the largest addition of land to an existing national park in New Zealand’s history,” Eugenie...

New Government funding will see the Department of Conservation invest an extra $76 million over the next four years to address New Zealand’s biodiversity crisis. “More than 4000 of our native plants and wildlife are threatened or at risk of extinction,” said Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage. “In the 750 years since humans arrived in New Zealand, more than 50 native bird species have gone extinct, three frogs, at least three lizards, one freshwater fish, four plants and an unknown number...

Iconic high country land will be better managed under changes that Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage announced consultation on today. Tenure review is a voluntary process where Crown pastoral land can be sold to a leaseholder and areas with high ecological and recreational value can be returned to full Crown ownership as conservation land. “Tenure review has seen some land protected but also large swathes, 353,000 ha, have been privatised and large areas intensively farmed or subdivided,” Eugenie Sage said....

Employment Minister Willie Jackson, along with Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage, today announced the launch of a new training programme targeting the Waiapu catchment, Ka Hao te Rangatahi. The programme is designed to develop young people’s skills through conservation and erosion management.   He Poutama Rangatahi (HPR) is supporting the programme as both HPR and Ka Hao share a strong focus on supporting rangatahi to be ready for real opportunities to work and contribute to their communities on the coast.  ...

The Government will end tenure review in the South Island high country, Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage announced today. Tenure review is a voluntary process where Crown pastoral land can be sold to a leaseholder and areas with high ecological and recreational value can be returned to full Crown ownership as conservation land. “Tenure review has resulted in parcels of land being added to the conservation estate, but it has also resulted in more intensive farming and subdivision on the...

Recent deaths of threatened seabirds killed by a longline fishing vessel show the fishing industry needs to do more to avoid seabird bycatch, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage says. Five Antipodean albatrosses and one Gibson’s albatross were killed when they were caught by a longline fishing vessel in the Bay of Plenty region between 2 December 2018 and 4 January 2019.  Both species are classed as ‘nationally critical’ – the most serious category for threatened species. Two black petrels, which are ‘nationally...

New research highlights the importance of New Zealand’s wetlands for one of our most secretive native birds, the Australasian bittern or matuku, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage said today on World Wetlands Day.   GPS tracking of matuku/bittern has, for the first time, revealed that this threatened swamp dweller flies more than 300 km between wetlands in the eastern South Island as well as large distances between North Island wetland sites. Previously it was thought bittern ranged only small distances from...

Edward Ellison is the new Chairperson of the New Zealand Conservation Authority (NZCA), Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced today. A sheep farmer on the Otago Peninsula, Mr Ellison has previously served on the NZCA, Otago Conservation Board, Queen Elizabeth II National Trust Board, the South-East Marine Protection Forum and the Otago University Council.  The NZCA is a national statutory body that provides strategic policy advice to the Department of Conservation and the Minister.  It also has statutory functions around approving...

The Waitangitaona River on the South Island’s West Coast will have one name but it will be spelt correctly under a decision made by Land Information Minister Eugenie Sage. Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio proposed to the New Zealand Geographic Board Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa (NZGB) in July 2017 that river be given two names: Waitangitāhuna River downstream from Whataroa and Waitakitahuna-ki-te-Toka upstream, after the original river split in two in a flood in 1967.  After public consultation, Te Rūnanga...

Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage says conservation, including marine reserves and sports fish like trout, will be better protected as a result of new law passed last night by Parliament. The Conservation (Infringement System) Act enables the Department of Conservation (DOC) to use infringement notices for lower level offending instead of a warning or prosecution through the courts. “I’m pleased that conservation managers now have a new tool for dealing with offending against conservation legislation,” Eugenie Sage said. “Previously DOC, local...