2022 media releases

Date: 12 December 2022
Field trials to test the use of a bird repellent to reduce risk to kea in predator control operations have been completed near Arthur’s Pass this spring.

Date: 09 December 2022
A stunning new Glacier Country visitor attraction will be unveiled at a ceremony near Fox Glacier/Wekeka township this morning.

Date: 10 November 2022
Rowi, one of our rarest kiwi species, are under threat from pigs illegally released in Westland Tai Poutini National Park.

Date: 03 November 2022
Over 1300 people from around the world have applied to be the new Biodiversity Supervisor in Haast.

Date: 21 October 2022
The Department of Conservation will no longer be entering into an arrangement with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga to lease the Hokitika Government Building.

Date: 05 October 2022
Carpenters from Fox River, Pahuatane and Barrytown are among those hard at work on the site of the new Experience Centre at Dolomite Point, Punakaiki.

Date: 08 September 2022
Public hearings about proposed changes to stewardship land classification on the West Coast will be held next week in person and online.

Date: 02 September 2022
DOC offices across the West Coast are getting together with their communities to take action for nature during Conservation Week this 5-11 September.

Date: 29 August 2022
DOC Reefton staff have a brand-new field base office.

Date: 26 August 2022
The Paparoa Track came through last week’s rainstorms relatively unscathed but the access road on the Blackball side is damaged.

Date: 24 August 2022
More than 6,600 people and organisations have made submissions on how they would like to see stewardship land reclassified on the West Cost of the South Island.

Date: 27 May 2022
Source: Office of the Minister of Conservation
An independent assessment of stewardship land on the West Coast has delivered recommendations for revised land classifications, Minister of Conservation Kiri Allan says.

Date: 27 May 2022
Ngāti Waewae will lead a ceremony in Punakaiki tomorrow morning to mark the start of the main construction work on the new Experience Centre.

Date: 13 May 2022
An extremely rare species of sea slug or ‘gravel maggot’ has been detected for the first time on a remote beach in South Westland.

Date: 12 May 2022
The Paparoa Track on the West Coast has fully reopened today, almost a fortnight ahead of schedule.

Date: 11 April 2022
Construction work on the main phase of DOC's Dolomite Point Redevelopment Project at Punakaiki will start next month.

Date: 11 March 2022
A member of the public discovered a dead Hector’s dolphin in the West Coast’s Ōkārito Lagoon yesterday, 10 March.

Date: 25 February 2022
A dead Hector’s dolphin has been found on the West Coast today, exactly a week after one was found further south.

Date: 24 February 2022
A dead Hector’s dolphin was discovered last Friday 18 February at a beach near Mikonui, south of Hokitika, by a member of the public.

Date: 22 February 2022
Structural engineers have confirmed that flood-damaged Heaphy Bridge on the Heaphy Great Walk is a write-off but it’s possible that Gunner Bridge can be fixed.

Date: 16 February 2022
More discoveries of rare pekapeka/long-tailed bats have been made on the West Coast through the work of the Government Covid-19 initiative Jobs for Nature.

Date: 25 January 2022
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, Te Rūnanga o Ngati Waewae and Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio will formally welcome the Western South Island stewardship land national panel to the West Coast with a pōwhiri at the Arahura marae near Hokitika today.