DOC

The Department of Conservation has rebuilt a hut at Lake Daniell in the Maruia Valley on the West Coast.

Hunting operators have thrown their weight behind a Tahr Foundation campaign which will see the Department of Conservation’s new tahr-culling operation challenged in the High Court this week.

Tourism businesses and rural communities will be undermined by DOC’s new tahr cull, according to ACT’s firearms and outdoors spokesperson Nicole McKee.

Matata Campground and Whirinaki Recreation Camp both needed upgrades and safety work undertaken and had extended closures after the Covid-19 lockdown while the work was done.

The measure will help save operators $25m in concession, management and monitoring fees.

The Department of Conservation’s new booking system for conservation hut and campsites goes live tomorrow, Thursday 25 June.

Ngāi Tahu Tourism, the Department of Conservation and Totally Tourism’s The Helicopter Line have teamed up to re-open Franz Josef Glacier guided hikes at the start of next month.

New Zealand’s Great Walks have attracted a record number of bookings with a 36% increase in overall reservations, says the Department of Conservation.

Ruapehu Alpine Lifts aims to limit ski field numbers to 4500 a day at Whakapapa and 3700 at Turoa, says RAL chief executive Jono Dean.

The first section of the Mangorei Track, part of the Taranaki Crossing Project, has been completed.

Hundreds of people are already ‘working for nature’ as part of the Government’s investment in job redeployment for those affected by the Covid-19 downturn, says minister of conservation Eugenie Sage.

The Department of Conservation has today closed Wairēinga/Bridal Veil Falls, near Raglan, to enable contractors to safely control goats in the area.

Bookings for the Great Walks will open between 9 and 11 June, excluding Milford and Routeburn tracks which are still undergoing storm repairs.

Southern operators face further delays to national park project plans.

The Department of Conservation has lifted the capacity of its huts.

The Hakarimata Summit Track in the Waikato has reopened to the public.

Matata Campground and Whirinaki Recreation Camp in Eastern Bay of Plenty will remain closed until July 2020 to undertake upgrades and safety work

Work to improve safety and provide for the protection of the sensitive environment of the West Coast’s Ōpārara Basin is set to begin at alert level 2, says the Department of Conservation.

The Hakarimata Summit Track in the Waikato will remain closed under alert level 2, says the Department of Conservation. 

All Department of Conservation facilities, including huts and campsites, will reopen for public use when New Zealand moves into alert level 2, but it is not quite business as usual.

The Department of Conservation has issued safety guidelines for when visitors return to the outdoors.

The Department of Conservation has admitted it “didn’t get it right” regarding the decision to remove the rock overhang on the Truman Track in Paparoa National Park in August last year.

The Department of Conservation is highlighting the legacy of its safety systems as it remembers those killed in the Cave Creek platform collapse 25 years ago.

The Department of Conservation will resume limited field work when New Zealand moves to Covid-19 alert level 3, and there will be a slight widening of public access to the conservation estate.

Hunters will be able to hunt on private land with special restrictions when New Zealand moves to Covid-19 alert level 3 but not on public conservation land.

Financial relief is on the way for recreation and tourism businesses operating on public conservation land, says the minister of conservation, Eugenie Sage.

Five rare tūturuatu/shore plovers were relocated from their Christchurch captive breeding facility to pest-free Mana Island off the Wellington coast.

Walkers and hikers in the Waikato are flouting Covid-19 lockdown rules, according to the Department of Conservation.

Roads into Egmont National Park will be closed following an order by Civil Defence in a bid to combat Covid-19.

The Department of Conservation is closing all huts and campsites.

The Department of Conservation is temporarily closing its visitor centres to the public as of today, Monday 23 March, and will cancel all hut and campsite bookings from tomorrow.

An operator specialising in tours for international students has been fined a total of $12,000 for illegally guiding on public conservation land, including two national parks.

Kapiti Island Nature Tours joined the Department of Conservation to return Calvin, an endangered greenturtle, to the wild at Rangiputa in Northland.

The first stage of the Taranaki Crossing development in Egmont National Park has begun.

DOC will undertake a partial review of the Otago Conservation Management Strategy to consider whether new cycle and mountain bike trails could be developed on public conservation land in Otago.

The Paparoa Track has fully opened after a slip and prolonged adverse weather left the middle section of the track closed since its official launch on 1 December last year.

Design work on the upgrade of the visitor infrastructure at Punakaiki is set to begin.

A surge in visitors is predicted for the Awaroa/Godley Head site overlooking Lyttelton Harbour.

A tourist’s drone has been seized in in Tongariro National Park where they are forbidden.

The Southern Milford-Mackinnon Experience will be on offer from next Wednesday.

Artists Denise Batchelor and Sarah Hunter have been offered Wild Creations funding and the opportunity to undertake a DOC conservation experience.

Fisheries NZ and DOC are seeking feedback on proposed marine protected areas off the southeast coast of the South Island.

The Department of Conservation has missed out on around $1.47m from cancelled bookings on its temporarily closed Milford and Routeburn tracks but many trampers have opted for other Great Walks.

The Blue Pools new carpark and toilet block, on State Highway 6 near Makarora, the Otago side of the Haast Pass, will be opened from today.

DOC is investing more than $3m upgrading popular camping grounds at Waikawau Bay, Stony Bay and Fletcher Bay near the northern tip of the Coromandel Peninsula.

The Department of Conservation has installed new signs along the Tasman National Park track to encourage hikers to use toilets.

The Department of Conservation is using geo-targeting technology to manage visitor impact as part of its $150,000 behaviour in nature campaign, ‘Love this Place’.

Overseas visitor numbers and tourism’s impact on the environment are hot button issues, according to DOC.

The Department of Conservation has acknowledged the “frustrations and concerns” it has caused Gannet Beach Adventures after it suspended the operator’s concession to run tours at Cape Kidnappers. 

Work has begun on the second bridge at Hokitika Gorge, which will link two sections of new track creating a one hour loop walk.