Permissions are needed for the following activities on public conservation lands or waters:
‘Concessions’ are granted under the Conservation Act 1987 and include leases, licences, permits and easements.
‘Authorisations’ are granted under the Wildlife Act 1953 to interact with wildlife (including catch, hold, release or kill wildlife).
Permits granted under the Crown Minerals Act 1991 from New Zealand Petroleum and Minerals for activities such as prospecting, exploration or mining. You will also need to apply for an ‘Access arrangement’ from DOC for access to public conservation land.
Permits granted under the Marine Mammals Protection Act 1978 if you want to undertake commercial activities involving marine mammals, or you want to take, hold, import or export marine mammals.
Application forms for permissions
We understand applying for a permission can be a little tricky. To ensure your application goes smoothly, we advise you to contact us to have a pre-application meeting.
We’ll help you to:
Depending on what you want to do and when and how you do it, you will either need a one-off concession or a longer-term concession.
One-off concessions are generally processed in shorter timeframes by the local DOC office nearest the location of the activity you are applying for will be undertaken. Timeframes depend on whether iwi consultation is required.
Other permissions and any that include wildlife will be processed by permissions teams in either Hamilton, Hokitika, Christchurch or Dunedin.
The application process is an iterative process that involves gathering information, analysis, assessment of effects and very often consultation with iwi/hapū/whānau regarding the proposed activity.
While there are some permission-specific steps within an application process, generally a similar process applies.
Some of the key steps in the application process:
DOC undertakes a statutory analysis to ensure the proposed activity is consistent with relevant legislation and statutory planning documents.
DOC does an analysis of the effects of the proposed activity and provide conditions and measures to avoid, remedy or mitigate adverse effects. You are also encouraged to think about actions you can take to do the same when completing your application form. Conditions are applied to all permissions to manage effects.
In general, it takes around 40 working days to receive iwi, hapu and whānau feedback on an application. If there are considerable values and interests to consider, more time may be required to support informed decision-making on the application. In some areas consultation can take much longer.
Section 4 of the Conservation Act states “this Act shall be so interpreted and administered as to give effect to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi”. This includes promoting the interests of iwi/hapū/whānau regarding local wāhi tapu/sacred sites and taonga/native species and supporting them to contribute to decisions about activities occurring within their tribal boundary.
An important principle where permissions are concerned is informed decision-making. Informed decision-making means both DOC and iwi/hapū/whānau are aware of each other’s interests and concerns in any application process. We need to know about any interests that may be affected by an activity, and/or location, proposed in a permission application.
Full information needs to be provided in your application to enable iwi, hapū or whānau to contribute to this decision-making process. This is connected closely to the treaty principles of good faith and active protection.
More information and the process you may need to undertake.
Particularly provide detail about the locations and frequency of your activity.
Applications with insufficient detail can cause delays in processing. DOC may request further information, and if you do not send the required information within a reasonable timeframe or do not reply within the timeframe, your application can be returned under section 17SD(4) of the Conservation Act 1987.
It is important you are aware of typical processing application times when planning your activity.
Things that can affect processing time include:
There is a fee for processing your application. This is charged whether or not your application is successful. It varies depending on the complexity of the activity you are applying for, and whether your application needs to be notified or not, because DOC staff time is cost recovered.
The minimum fee charged is:
More about processing fees for the specific activity
There is also a fee for the public notification process. The fee for notification is at least $3,425. Costs can be higher, dependent on:
More information about the public notification process
Ongoing fees depend on the type of permission you are seeking. They can include an annual management fee, activity fees, and a monitoring fee to monitor the effects of your activity and your compliance with authorised terms and conditions.
These will be outlined by DOC before your permission is issued.