Conservation land review in top of south

Former Nelson mayor Philip Woollaston has been appointed as one of the leaders of a panel reviewing conservation stewardship land, which includes pockets of land in the Nelson Marlborough region.

The Government is reclassifying stewardship land throughout New Zealand to better protect high value conservation areas that are home to threatened species and precious ecosystems.

Stewardship land is land that was allocated to the Department of Conservation (DOC) when it was formed in 1987 and includes former state forest and Crown land considered to have conservation value.

About 30 per cent of conservation land – or 2.5 million hectares – are stewardship areas. A Department of Conservation map shows pockets of stewardship land in the Nelson Marlborough region, but DOC was unable to provide Stuff with information this week on the total area of land involved in the region or what type of land it was.

Stewardship land can be disposed of, exchanged or reclassified to add greater protection to the area.

The most recent reclassification of stewardship land was the 64,400ha of Mokihinui River catchment land north of Westport, which was added to Kahurangi National Park.

Earlier this year then acting Conservation Minister Ayesha Verrall said it was vital land with high conservation value was classified correctly to ensure it was protected for its natural and cultural heritage and safeguarded for the future.

‘‘However, the current process of reclassifying stewardship land is complex, costly and time-consuming,’’ she said.

‘‘The Government intends to progress legislation to streamline, speed up and simplify the process, so land with conservation value is identified and managed appropriately, while land with low or no conservation value can be considered for other uses.’’

Westland mayor Bruce Smith said the reclassification of stewardship land was ‘‘long overdue’’.

‘‘There has always been an understanding that some stewardship land will be taken out of the DOC estate and put into private ownership.

‘‘Most of it, of course, will need to be protected, but we need to find a balance.

‘‘It’s difficult to see how a balance can be struck when the panel is made up of 100 per cent conservation people. There is no-one there from any industry whatsoever,’’ he said.

The goldfields of the Grey Valley, Kumara and Hokitika contained in-demand minerals like garnet and rare earth minerals and some of it was on stewardship land that had very little conservation value and should be allowed to be mined.

The West Coast had 84 per cent of its land under the Department of Conservation of which 33 per cent was stewardship land.

Smith said the figure rose to 47 per cent of the Westland district was stewardship land.

‘‘If even a fraction of that gets released into private ownership it becomes rateable and would take the pressure of the ratepayers and would make a massive difference.’’

Two independent expert national panels have been established, focussing initially on the northern South Island and the western South Island, and tasked with providing revised classification recommendations to the conservation minister.

Woollaston, a former Labour Party politician and former conservation minister, who was Nelson’s MP from 1981 to 1990 and the city’s mayor from 1992 to 1998, is cochairman of the northern South Island panel along with former National MP Christopher Finlayson.