Portfolio: Conservation

Ministers to consider PCE report

Admin — Thu, 31 May 2012 02:36:00 +0000

Kate Wilkinson | Conservation

Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson and Environment Minister Amy Adams will consider a new report that challenges law makers to think about issues such as the trade-offs between renewable energy and wild and scenic rivers. ...

Conservation Board Chairperson’s Conference

Admin — Sat, 12 May 2012 00:35:00 +0000

Kate Wilkinson | Conservation

Conservation Boards are an important link between DOC and the community - you are independent and whilst you do not have a formal function to represent or be your community’s voice in conservation management – you are representative of your communities . Your members are drawn from your communities with extensive regional knowledge, varying skills and networks. You bring an understanding of what locals want, what is important to your communities and also how conservation initiatives can help them grow. ...

Tougher penalties for gecko smugglers

Admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 00:49:00 +0000

Kate Wilkinson | Conservation

Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson has welcomed the conviction of an endangered gecko smuggler but says tougher penalties are needed. German visitor Andreas Hahn was sentenced to a four month jail term in the Christchurch District Court today after taking four endangered jewelled geckos from Banks Peninsula. “The actions of this man are appalling and a gross insult to all New Zealanders,” Ms Wilkinson says. ...

Whanganui cycle trail now completed

Admin — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:54:00 +0000

Kate Wilkinson | Conservation

Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson joined with a group of cyclists today to celebrate the completion of the Mountains to Sea Cycle Trail. The 245km trail starts at Ruapehu, crosses the Tongariro and Whanganui National Parks and ends near the mouth of the Whanganui River. Ms Wilkinson, accompanied by Associate Conservation Minister Peter Dunne, met with the cyclists, Whanganui Iwi representatives and local mayors to unveil a carved pou at the junction of the Mangapurua and Kaiwhakauka Valleys in Whanganui National Park. ...

Minister welcomes new tourism - conservation partnership

Beehive — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 05:25:00 +0000

Kate Wilkinson | Conservation

Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson has welcomed the signing of a new commercial partnership with the Department of Conservation (DOC) and Air New Zealand working together to protect and promote our unique wildlife and special landscapes. Under the partnership, which was announced in Auckland today, Air New Zealand will fly endangered species to new breeding sites around the country and invest directly in conservation programmes alongside the Great Walks network. ...

Minister welcomes flight of the kakapo

Beehive — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 22:02:00 +0000

Kate Wilkinson | Conservation

Iwi representative Hillary McGregor releases a kakapo on Hauturu/Little Barrier Island (taken by Deidre Vercoe). The transfer of seven critically endangered kakapo to Little Barrier Island is a significant move to help secure the species’ survival, Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson says. The native parrots were captured on the predator-free Whenua Hou/Codfish Island and Anchor Island in Southland then airlifted – by helicopter and Air New Zealand passenger flights - to their new home north of Auckland yesterday. ...

Minister welcomes Million Dollar Mouse campaign

Beehive — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 06:44:00 +0000

Kate Wilkinson | Conservation

Rockhopper Penguin Light Mantled Sooty Albatross Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson today warmly welcomed the announcement of the ‘Million Dollar Mouse campaign’ to rid New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic Antipodes Islands of the pests. The brainchild of economist and ‘Our Far South’ organiser Dr Gareth Morgan, the campaign aims to raise more than a million dollars towards the major mouse eradication project. ...

Government moves to further protect dolphins

Beehive — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 02:48:00 +0000

David Carter | Conservation

The Government is considering further measures to protect Maui’s dolphins as a new study points to a decline in numbers of the critically endangered species. A population assessment commissioned by the Department of Conservation shows the number of adult dolphins has gone down in the six years since the previous assessment, with an estimated 55 adult animals remaining. ...

Non-resident angler licence considered

Admin — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 23:43:00 +0000

Kate Wilkinson | Conservation

The Government is considering a proposal to establish differential fishing licences for overseas anglers, Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson announced today. Last year the Minister asked Fish and Game NZ to provide a report on the rationale on for a non- resident fishing licence and charging a differential licence fee for visiting anglers fishing in Fish and Game New Zealand regions. This report, which included input from the Department of Conservation, then went out for public consultation. ...

Minister urges New Zealanders to get involved in marine conservation

Beehive — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 22:50:00 +0000

Kate Wilkinson | Conservation

Seaweek is all about inspiring New Zealanders to celebrate and learn from the sea, Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson said at the national launch of Seaweek last night. “New Zealand’s seas are more than 15 times larger than our land area, and home to more than 15,000 known species, many not found anywhere else in the world,” she said. The launch event at Auckland Zoo kicked off a week of marine conservation activities around the country, and at last count more than 120 events had been registered. ...

Welcome addition to Nelson’s conservation land

Admin — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 23:31:00 +0000

Kate Wilkinson | Conservation

Public conservation land around Nelson has been given a boost with the Government purchasing 333 hectares of private land beside Kahurangi National Park. The forested block on the coast between Big River and Kahurangi Point, north-west of Nelson, is home to the endangered land snail (Powelliphanta gillesi kahurangica) and one of the area’s last remaining lowland coastal populations of the great spotted kiwi (Apteryx haastii). The coast is also home to the nationally rare sand kanuka. ...

Game Animal Council Bill great step for outdoors

Beehive — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 05:46:00 +0000

Peter Dunne | Conservation

Associate Conservation Minister and UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne today led legislation for a Game Animal Council to its First Reading in Parliament, delivering on a key provision of the party’s confidence and supply agreement with National. “This Bill is a key part of UnitedFuture’s confidence and supply agreement and I am delighted we have been able to deliver on it so early in the parliamentary term,” Mr Dunne said. ...

Game Animal Council Bill – First Reading Speech

Beehive — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 05:44:00 +0000

Peter Dunne | Conservation

Mr Speaker, I move that the Game Animal Council Bill be read for a first time. I propose to refer the Bill to the Local Government and Environment Committee. This Bill delivers on the Government’s 2008 confidence and supply agreement with UnitedFuture to “proceed with the establishment of a Big Game Hunting Council as part of a national wild game management strategy with a view to it becoming a statutory authority”. ...

Minister praises partnership for whio breeding result

Beehive — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 03:26:00 +0000

Kate Wilkinson | Conservation

Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson has praised Genesis Energy Ltd for their work with the Department of Conservation (DOC) to increase numbers of the rare native whio (blue duck). Ms Wilkinson visited Turangi’s National Trout Centre today for the official launch of the Genesis Energy Whio National Recovery Project. ...

Minister concerned at Hectors dolphin deaths

Beehive — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:40:00 +0000

Kate Wilkinson | Conservation

Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson was shocked to learn of the discovery of a pair of endangered Hectors dolphins that washed up inside a marine sanctuary. The two dolphins were found entangled in a fishing net on the beach near the Waimakariri River mouth yesterday, around 30km inside the northern limit of the Banks Peninsula Marine Mammal Sanctuary. The 413,000 hectare zone covers Banks Peninsula and stretches north to the Waipara River. ...

Trust to help restore Abel Tasman National Park

Admin — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:13:00 +0000

Kate Wilkinson | Conservation

Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson has praised the generosity of a private family trust which has launched a multi-million dollar conservation project in Abel Tasman National Park. Project Janszoon is a partnership between the Department of Conservation and the Project Janszoon Trust. It aims to restore biodiversity - essentially the variety of plant and animal life - to around 80 per cent of the park over the next 30 years. “Our indigenous flora and fauna are a major part of New Zealand’s culture and heritage,” Ms Wilkinson says. ...

Private initiative helps save kiwi

Beehive — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 21:39:00 +0000

Kate Wilkinson | Conservation

Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson has applauded a private kiwi breeding project for its important contribution to conservation. This initiative, which started in 2006, saw the release of the 100th kiwi into the privately owned 15,000 acre Maungataniwha Native Forest, in the northern Hawke’s Bay, yesterday. Ms Wilkinson congratulated the Forest Life Force Restoration Trust and their backer entrepreneur Simon Hall who own the land and are one of the driving forces behind the project. ...

Decision on aerially assisted trophy hunting applications

Admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:13:00 +0000

Peter Dunne | Conservation

Sixteen aerially assisted trophy hunting (AATH) concessions are to be granted by Associate Conservation Minister Peter Dunne under the Wild Animal Control Act. The Minister said he was obliged to consider the applications within the framework of current legislation and has decided on the following under Section 22 of the Act: ...

Minister stamps mark on World Wetlands Day

Beehive — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:31:00 +0000

Kate Wilkinson | Conservation

Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson tomorrow launched the game bird habitat stamp and art prints for 2012 to mark World Wetlands Day, held internationally on February 2 each year. New Zealand’s game bird habitat stamps initiative is based on the successful American model where the stamps are used to endorse hunting licences with funds raised going towards waterfowl conservation projects. ...

Missing Raoul Island Conservation Volunteer

Beehive — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:51:00 +0000

Kate Wilkinson | Conservation

Minister of Conservation, Kate Wilkinson, today paid tribute to missing Department of Conservation volunteer Mihai Muncus-Nagy, who is presumed to have been swept off rocks on Raoul Island on Monday in a tragic accident. "My thoughts and sympathies are today with the family of Mr Muncus-Nagy in Romania. “Mihai was a dedicated and passionate conservationist. He was carrying out valuable conservation work on behalf of the department on this remote and special island," says Ms Wilkinson. ...