NZDA H&W 198 WEB

Keith Milne, "Purple Flower", 1st, D
Bill Wallace, "Oasis", 1st, C
underway sometime soon. With the
ability to accurately forecast where
the most likely seeding will take
place, combined with the sites where
native species are at greatest risk, we
are able to schedule pest control in
priority areas.
Our target is to deliver more than
600,000 ha of predator control, in
addition to the roughly 225,000 ha
already planned as business as usual.
BFOB 2017 includes both ground and
aerial work. The choice of methods
is based on what is most efficient and
effective for each site.
Seed monitoring has shown a
distinct change in the need for pest
control, from the beech forests of
the South Island to a greater level
of threat in the North Island. This
year we have 31 aerial and 12 ground
operations planned. At this point 35
control operations are confirmed. The
proposed programme will continue
to change through consultation and
is dependent on predators reaching
trigger levels.
Deer repellent
DOC has worked closely with the
Game Animal Council and NZDA
regarding deer repellent and DOC
appreciated the pragmatic approach
to pest control on such a large scale
taken by NZDA where DOC needs to
carry out these priority operations.
There are several sites where DOC
has agreed to deer repellent use:
»»
in the South Island, in the
Dart Valley at the head of Lake
Wakatipu, to protect the whitetail
herd;
»»
in the North Island, at
Umukarikari and Whirinaki Forest
Parks and Tongariro Forest after
consultation with local hunters;
and
»»
in the Kaimanawas, to protect the
sika herd.
That’s a total of 40,000 hectares
of deer repellent. Again, it’s the
pragmatic approach to pest control by
NZDA that has given DOC the space
to carry out operations that have
benefited species over large areas.
Wild animal recovery
operations (WARO)
This brings me to the vexed issue
of the review of the wild animal
recovery operators’ permits. I
promised last time I stood in front of
you that I would undertake a review
of WARO on public conservation
land, to inform the next round
of WARO permits in 2018. The
intention was good but the reality has
been a bit different.
Essentially the work was paused
while we waited for the outcome of
the judicial review of the 2015 WARO
process in the lower North Island. The
hearing for the judicial review was
delayed at the judge’s request and we
only learned the outcome in late June.
As you are aware, the Lower
North Island Red Deer Foundation
took DOC to court to challenge the
Department’s WARO concession
process around the classification of
some lands in the lower North Island.
The judge considered the issues raised
regarding a lack of consultation. He
said that there was no legitimate
expectation of consultation, nor a
need to publicly notify the permit
applications at a national level.
However, at a local level, the land
classification changes were significant
and DOC needed to consider the
impact of the changes on the role of
recreational hunters by consulting
them, and that was deemed unfair.
On the issue of what he was going
to do about it, the judge declined
to quash the WARO concessions,
which covered the whole of the
North Island. Also, the concessions
had only one year left to run and to
quash them at this late stage would be
disproportionate.
So, what does this mean? While
the judge’s decision applies to the
facts of the case, it does have some
broader implications for consultation,
such as assessing when proposed
changes in national process are
significant enough to warrant
consultation at a local level, and
assessing when statements in statutory
planning documents may trigger
consultation.
Now that the judge’s decision has
been received we can look to the
future and the previous commitment
to undertake the wider review. As I
said to you last year, the purpose of
the proposed review is to consider
the long-term sustainable future
for management of wild animals in
New Zealand on public conservation
land, ensuring a sustainable WARO
industry can assist in managing
wild animals so that recreational,
commercial and conservation
objectives can all be met. My
intention is that this consideration
will be complete and the findings of
it shared by the end of 2017.
Volunteering
On a more positive note, I want
to acknowledge again this year the
work that NZDA does as part of the
Outdoor Recreation Consortium
and more widely as an integral part
of the volunteer community. DOC
does not take for granted the effort
that members put in to retaining our
backcountry heritage and also helping
NZ Hunting & Wildlife 198 - Spring 2017
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