Date: 23 December 2019
With the reopening of storm damaged State Highway 6 late last week, South Westland Rangers have been busy with the increase in visitor numbers to Glacier Country.

Date: 16 December 2019
Extreme weather on the West Coast has continued to stymie efforts to open the middle section of the Paparoa Track, DOC says.

Date: 06 December 2019
A mountain biker caught cycling through the construction site in the closed area on the Paparoa Track yesterday may be prosecuted.

Date: 20 November 2019
Results of toxicology testing of dead rats that washed up on North Beach near Westport recently show no presence of 1080.

Date: 19 November 2019
The official opening of the new Paparoa Track will go ahead as planned on Saturday 30 November 2019, but the track will only partially open on 1 December 2019.

Date: 11 November 2019
Dog owners are being urged to keep their dogs off Westport beaches after hundreds of dead rats washed up there in the past 24 hours.

Date: 11 October 2019
DOC and Blackball residents are getting ready for the long-awaited opening of what will be New Zealand’s first purpose built shared-use Great Walk.

Date: 10 October 2019
The last northern royal albatross/toroa chick has fledged from Pukekura/Taiaroa Head bringing the 2018/19 breeding season to an end.

Date: 09 October 2019
A new visitor experience centre and overhaul and upgrade of dated infrastructure at Punakaiki is one step closer with the call to market this week for proposals from suppliers to complete final designs for the project.

Date: 27 September 2019
DOC is reminding members of the public to be aware of nesting birds around the area this breeding season, as people spend more time in the outdoors with the longer days and warmer weather.

Date: 24 September 2019
Aroha, the rowi kiwi that made headlines last month after she was rescued from a mountain by the local West Coast LandSAR Alpine Cliff Rescue team is on the move again.

Date: 30 August 2019
A rare rowi kiwi who had strayed far from her lowland forest home to a cliff face has been rescued.

Date: 28 August 2019
Source: Office of the Minister for the Environment
An application from Westpower Ltd for concessions to construct and operate a run of river hydro-electric power scheme on the Waitaha River, near Hokitika, has been declined.

Date: 24 August 2019
The access road to the iconic destination of Fox Glacier/Te Moeka o Tuawe in South Westland will be closed for the indefinite future after an engineering report commissioned by DOC and the New Zealand Transport Agency found it was no longer practical to re-establish road access into the valley.

Date: 24 August 2019
Source: Offices of the Minister of Conservation and Minister of Tourism
The West Coast’s Glacier Country will receive a significant investment to boost the area’s spectacular visitor attractions, Tourism Minister Kelvin Davis and Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced today.

Date: 16 August 2019
After almost two months of cleaning rubbish, DOC has shut down the Incident Management Centre that was set up at the Fox Glacier DOC office to manage the Fox landfill clean-up response.

Date: 08 August 2019
The Department of Conservation (DOC) has announced that the massive effort by volunteers to clean-up the Fox landfill spill will end on Sunday after a final push by the biggest volunteer force yet.

Date: 02 August 2019
DOC Director-General Lou Sanson is onsite in Fox Glacier to thank volunteers and the New Zealand Defence Force personnel for their work in removing rubbish from the Fox and Cook Rivers and coastline of South Westland.

Date: 01 August 2019
DOC Operation Tidy Fox team has announced that they expect the clean-up to be finished by mid-August.

Date: 12 July 2019
Source: Office of the Minister of Conservation
The Minister for Conservation, Eugenie Sage, is celebrating the discovery of a new, genetically distinct subpopulation of the critically endangered Haast tokoeka by DOC staff on the West Coast near Haast.

Date: 31 May 2019
DOC has decided to halt the West Coast Te Tai o Poutini Conservation Management Strategy (CMS) amendment process while it works with iwi, conservation and recreation groups to ensure the legal process is robust.

Date: 30 May 2019
DOC has reopened access to the Franz Josef Glacier Valley.

Date: 26 April 2019
The first stage of Zero Invasive Predator’s (ZIP) trial using aerial 1080 to remove predators in the Perth River valley is complete with two monitored kea reported to have died.

Date: 16 April 2019
The illegal removal of the jawbone of a 11 m sperm whale washed up on a beach north of Okarito is disappointing and disrespectful says DOC and iwi.

Date: 09 April 2019
The Paparoa Track will now open on 1 December 2019, replacing the previous opening scheduled for the end of September 2019.

Date: 03 April 2019
DOC is about to start work on the rebuild of Manson Nicholls Memorial Hut located at Lake Daniell near Maruia on the West Coast of the South Island.

Date: 20 March 2019
DOC is concerned by evidence of illegal fires near Grassy Flat Hut on the Styx River and thanks members of the public for raising the alarm.

Date: 20 March 2019
DOC is seeking the views of the public on draft amendments to the West Coast Te Tai o Poutini Conservation Management Strategy (CMS) 2010.

Date: 13 March 2019
Source: Office of the Minister of Conservation
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.

Date: 05 March 2019
DOC’s Himalayan tahr control work, vital to protecting the unique alpine landscapes of the South Island, resumes this week.

Date: 01 March 2019
The Fox Glacier access road has been destroyed by a major landslide.

Date: 21 February 2019
DOC has given permission for Zero Invasive Predators (ZIP) to undertake a predator removal programme over 12,000 ha of conservation land in the Perth River valley in South Westland.

Date: 04 February 2019
DOC has paused its review of two national park management plans while it works through the implications of the Supreme Court’s decision relating to Ngāi Tai.

Date: 21 January 2019
The deadline is coming up for the public to provide feedback on the draft Aoraki/Mount Cook and Westland Tai Poutini national park management plans.

Date: 16 January 2019
The release of 20 whio on the West Coast today has grown the population of the Central Southern Alps Whio Security Site, inland from Hokitika, which has also increased in size.