Category: Environment

A fluffy new Royal cam star hatched last night in the northern royal albatross breeding colony at Pukekura/Taiaroa Head on Otago Peninsula.

Trampers crossing the Waiau Pass between Nelson Lakes National Park and St James Conservation Area will find the new 6-bunk hut Waiau Hut a welcome sight at the end of their 15 km trek.

Individuals, groups and businesses have a novel opportunity to help boost conservation in New Zealand – by adopting a Fiordland Valley.

DOC has completed track upgrades in kauri forests throughout the Hauraki, Coromandel and Tauranga districts, to help prevent the spread of kauri dieback.

Toyota Kiwi Guardians is an activity programme that helps kids connect with nature by encouraging them to go on epic self-guided adventures and earn rewards.

Two historically and culturally significant landmarks – Bannockburn Sluicings and the Otago Central Railway Trail – will celebrate their recent elevation to Landmark status at events on 27 January.

Picton Dawn Chorus has secured $60,000 from DOC to support their pest control work.

A whopping 26 whio have arrived at the Whio Hardening Facility in Turangi.

Rakatu Wetlands, located on the floodplain of the Waiau River, will be the site for Fiordland’s 2018 World’s Wetland Day celebration on 27 January.

DOC is warning fishers to stay out of marine reserves around Banks Peninsula after a recent spate of alleged illegal fishing.

DOC is appealing for information about the cutting down of native trees at Robin Hood Bay, a popular coastal camping spot in Marlborough.

DOC is reminding people to keep safe as two female leopard seals continue their visits to Auckland’s seaside spots.

DOC is reviewing options to address the impact of pests within the Raukumara Forest Park.

A routine check of tracking tunnels on Tiritiri Matangi island on 8 January has launched a search for a rat on the inner Hauraki Gulf sanctuary.

A record number of whio ducklings have been located on Mt Taranaki in what is proving to be a boom year for the rare native blue duck.

MPI and DOC will continue to take a zero tolerance approach towards people who poach from the Te Tapuwae o Rongokako Marine Reserve north of Gisborne.

We are sad to confirm that a volunteer hut warden’s body was located near the Pinnacles Hut in Canterbury, in what appears to have been a fall.

We are reminding the public to be careful on and around the region’s beaches at this time of year, especially around nesting sites.

For the first time in more than a century, kakaruai/South Island robin have produced chicks on Motupōhue/Bluff Hill.

Central Hawke’s Bay’s Lake Whatumā Wetland Care Group has secured $25,000 from DOC to continue their critical restoration work.

A forest park near Wellington has been swarming with more volunteers than usual for the past year; and they’ve installed a massive new network of next-generation traps to tackle stoats and rats which prey upon brown kiwi and other native birds.

In a hidden valley, just a stone’s throw from the new Kapiti expressway, a lifestyle couple are restoring their 19-hectare block of bush for native lizards and insects.

Pirongia’s Te Aroaro o Kahu Restoration Society so desperately wants its own maunga to be a kōkako stronghold, its members have become deeply involved in protecting both the land and species where its future songbirds presently live.

The outstanding success of pest eradication and native species population growth achieved within Taranaki’s Lake Rotokare Scenic Reserve over several years is now requiring the ‘halo’ beyond the reserve boundaries to be extended ever further.

Two remote lakes south of Kawhia Harbour are to benefit from restoration work following successful funding applications to DOC’s Community Fund.

The fourth year of funding from the DOC Community Fund has been awarded to over 112 projects across the country.

Three new takahē arrived in Wellington this week and another is moving between pest-free islands. The movements will help provide companions for birds who have lost their elderly mates this year.

If you’re visiting the Taupo region over summer, there are plenty of trout fishing opportunities available.

The East Coast is a popular holiday spot for families looking to get away from urban hustle and bustle. There’s lots to do and plenty of places to explore.

DOC is keen to ensure people can enjoy our lizard species, without disturbing them.

DOC and Gisborne District Council are reminding the public to be careful near New Zealand dotterel/tūturiwhatu and banded dotterel nesting sites on the East Coast this summer.

Check out these tips for keeping Northland safe this summer.

The reclusive rock wren/tuke is on the rise in Kahurangi National Park due to our predator control programme, recent monitoring confirms.

A project to protect native species and enhance the landscape of Cape Foulwind in Buller will be boosted by support from the DOC Community Fund, Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage has announced.

A 171-year-old mystery, at the site of the battle of Ruapekapeka in Northland, has been solved.

A partnership between DOC, Te Arai and Mangawhai Shorebirds Trust, Te Uri o Hau Settlement Trust, and Boffa Miskell will protect the endangered fairy tern.

DOC Hawke’s Bay is looking for wardens at Waitara/Glenn Falls, Everetts and Kuripapango campsites.

An Invercargill man has been fined for dumping vacuum cleaners and other rubbish in the Seaward Moss Conservation Area.

DOC is investing in road signage on a problematic West Coast backcountry road this summer but says travellers must prepare, drive to the conditions and expect more traffic.

A Nelson man has been fined $16,000 for commercial fishing in a West Coast marine reserve.

Get tips for enjoying the summer from DOC in Manawatu.

A Responsible Camping Ranger will be roaming the Catlins coast this summer to help educate visitors on appropriate places to camp.

DOC rangers in the Rotorua area are preparing for a hot dry summer and the extreme fire risk that comes with it.

Napier had a surprise visitor on the weekend – an endangered Hector’s dolphin.

DOC is praising a Nelson forestry company for temporarily halting operations around a kea nest to protect the kea.

A series of New Zealand sea lion/rāpoka specialists will begin their journeys to subantarctic islands this week for the start of sea lion study season.

DNA analysis has ruled out a Norway rat as the culprit for a dropping found on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island last week, news welcomed by DOC.

Conservation groups across New Zealand will benefit from $4.2 million in new funding grants announced today by Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage.

DOC has activated a response plan following a possible rat sighting on pest-free Hauturu/Little Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf.

DOC is upgrading two tracks through kauri forest in Dome Forest, near Warkworth, to help prevent the spread of kauri dieback.

A full-scale response has been launched after a potential rat dropping was found on the predator free island.

DOC confirms it has asked New Zealand Police to investigate after receiving a second threatening letter from an anti-1080 protestor in Taranaki.

DOC rangers are appealing for the public’s help after a dog attack on a fur seal at Back Beach last weekend.

A public tip-off has led to the conviction of a man who illegally fished in Wellington’s Taputeranga Marine Reserve.

DOC rangers are appealing for the public’s help after a dog attack on a fur seal at Back Beach last weekend.

One of New Zealand’s rarest birds, the New Zealand fairy tern/tara-iti, has been boosted by a chick successfully hatching at Mangawhai, North of Auckland in late November.

Leopard seals are a protected species, normally found along the edge of the Antarctic pack ice. An increasing number are visiting New Zealand and there are two leopard seals being seen in Auckland waters.

Campers and outdoor enthusiasts are urged to be fire wise this summer as warm, dry weather persists in the south.

The traditional method of preparing albatross bones for tattooing chisels is bringing together two iwi and Department of Conservation staff in a wānanga on Matiu/Somes Island today.

A rare shorebird has been spotted at Waikanae estuary and may be breeding for the first time.

From 1 December three DOC free camping areas in the Taupō District will change from restricted to ‘no camping’ sites. The sites are the Omori Stream car park near Kuratau, the Oruatua picnic site near Tauranga-Taupō and the Landing Reserve in the Taupō boat harbour.

DOC wants Manawatu residents to report local lizard sightings to help build an accurate picture of distribution in the region.

Recent yellow-eyed penguin/hoiho nest counts on mainland New Zealand indicate a continued decline in numbers in some areas for this rare taonga species says DOC Threatened Species Ambassador Nicola Toki.

A pest detection blitz by 12 conservation dogs and their handlers in the Marlborough Sounds last week found no predators on island sanctuaries, giving assurance the islands are safe for the endangered native species living there.

Anglers will be affected by a plan to reduce vehicle access to Lake Otamangakau near Turangi from December.

DOC is implementing a seasonal booking system for beds at the popular Rangiwahia and Sunrise huts.

An aerial pest control operation to protect at-risk native species in the Northern Ruahine Ranges has been completed.

One of New Zealand’s rarest animals the tūturuatu or shore plover is now even closer to extinction after one was found dead in Westshore this week.

Two whio have become this season’s first customers at the Hardening Facility at the Tongariro National Trout Centre.

DOC’s Battle for our Birds aerial 1080 pest control in western Kahurangi National Park has been completed, making the area’s at-risk native wildlife safer from predators.

A significant project to upgrade the Roys Peak Track vehicle facilities is almost complete, with the track open to the public again on Saturday 18 November.

Initial findings from a social research project show that most New Zealanders support the need for pest control.

DOC is responding to a possible mouse sighting on pest-free Tiritiri Matangi island in the Hauraki Gulf.

Three people have been trespassed from the Kaweka Forest Park for illegally lighting fires which threatened not only the campsites, but people and native wildlife.

An orca stranded on Marfells Beach in Marlborough since yesterday has been successfully refloated this afternoon and was swimming out to sea.

DOC staff have had a busy year managing the impacts of the November 2016 earthquake on native species and conservation areas and that work continues.

A formal complaint has been made against a group of jet boaters at Lake Alabaster Hut on the Hollyford Track.

A section of the Routeburn Track is closed 8 and 9 November due to heavy spring snow.

A DOC conservation dog has sniffed out a mouse on a truck that was being barged to pest free Motuihe island in the Hauraki Gulf.

DOC East Coast encourages entries into Green Ribbon Awards for outstanding contributions to the environment.