Right now, Forest and Bird are in the Supreme Court defending a challenge from the Minister of Conservation, Maggie Barry. The Minister wants to remove the protected status of 22 hectares of Forest Park land in order to allow it to be flooded for the Ruataniwha irrigation dam to go ahead. Think about that for […]
Currently there is a Bill going through Parliament that increases enforcement powers for wildlife officers. We are supporting it because we know that smuggling of precious and threatened wildlife is occurring and that our wildlife officers need more power to stop this. However we are also frustrated because National continues to ignore the fact the […]
This week is Conservation Week. We all benefit from conservation, so we all must play a part in protecting our future. 10 questions with Green MP Gareth Hughes.
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been making a big deal about cuts to Conservation funding and the impact they are having on the work the Department of Conservation is charged with doing. Yet Maggie Barry, the Minister of Conservation, says I’ve got it all wrong. So I thought a review might be in order.
The Environmental Defence Society’s new book Vanishing Nature – facing New Zealand’s biodiversity crisis, should be read by every New Zealander concerned about our native plants and wildlife and striking natural landscapes; and particularly by Government Ministers before Budget Day on 21 May. The book authored by Marie Brown, Theo Stephens, Raewyn Peart and Bevis […]
Birdsong should not be replaced by the sound of diggers in our National Parks. Promoters claim that the Department of Conservation (DoC) will soon decide whether Milford Dart Ltd’s application for a proposed 11.3km private bus tunnel from the Glenorchy end of the Routeburn track to the Hollyford Valley near Te Anau goes ahead. Our six […]
At its July meeting the West Coast Conservation Board decided unanimously to request the New Zealand Conservation Authority to use its powers under section 8 of the National Parks Act to investigate adding the Mokihinui River catchment to Kahurangi National Park. I have written to Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson and asked her to request the […]
Some 40 years ago the Save Manapouri campaign began with a meeting in Te Anau. Protecting Lake Manapouri from being raised and operated as a hydro lake and the lake shore forest inundated involved the biggest public mobilisation for the environment New Zealand had ever seen. Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau together with the rest […]
Various alternate routes to Milford Sound have been proposed over the years to solve the perceived problem of travel time to, and congestion at Milford Sound. They include the train tunnel, the highway from Haast and the gondola. Two new proposals now seek concessions from the Department of Conservation. Milford Dart Ltd wants to build […]
In March last year, as part of his Dirty Rivers Tour, Russel Norman visited his first dirty lake – Lake Ellesmere, or Te Waihora. He found signs by the boatramp that said not to touch the water, as it’s a health hazard due to toxic algae. The Department of Conservation, along with Ngāi Tahu and […]