12,109 hectares of Great Barrier Island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf is to be set aside in a new Aotea Conservation Park, Conservation Minister Dr Nick Smith announced today at a community function in Claris with Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye.

There has been a large rock avalanche from the South Face of Aoraki/Mount Cook altering the Hillary Ridge and damaging one of the Department of Conservation’s (DOC) remote alpine huts.

New Zealand’s largest-ever pest control programme has been given the go ahead to protect native wildlife like kiwi from a confirmed plague of rats and stoats, Conservation Minister Dr Nick Smith announced in Maruia on July 13th.

Over the winter months, seals spend much of their time resting on beaches and rocky shores around Wellington and Kapiti. Fur seals often need rest, not rescuing.

Politicians killing pests… What about professional courtesy?

CommuNICKation ain’t cheap

The New Zealand freshwater fish threat classification panel led by the Department of Conservation has made changes to the classification of freshwater fish, giving several species a higher conservation status.

The Department of Conservation says it will put in more rigorous processes for aerial 1080 pest control operations following an internal review of a Marlborough Sounds’ operation last November.

Energy and resources minister Simon Bridges should be sacked, Greenpeace said this afternoon.

Dozens of refloated pilot whales appear to be in the clear, after New Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC) searches found no sign of them on Farewell Spit beaches.