West Coast Te Tai o Poutini Conservation Management Strategy review: Have your say

DOC, Poutini Ngāi Tahu (Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae and Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio) and the West Coast Tai Poutini Conservation Board are working together in partnership to develop a new CMS for Te Tai Poutini West Coast.

Background

A CMS is a strategy for managing public conservation lands and waters within a region. It sets the direction for management of natural, cultural, historic and recreational values.

The new CMS applies to public conservation lands and waters on Te Tai Poutini West Coast. This extends from west of Kā Tiritiri o te Moana/ Southern Alps, from Kahurangi Point in the north to Te Hōkai (Awarua Point) in the south.

Map of public conservation lands and waters on Te Tai Poutini West Coast.

With 84% of Te Tai Poutini West Coast being public conservation lands and waters, the CMS plays a significant role in shaping the region's future.

Whether you live near, operate on, care about or visit the area, the new CMS will affect you as it will influence how these lands and waters are managed.

Why are we developing a new CMS?

The current CMS, while still active, needs a review.

Key drivers for a new CMS are:

CMSs are required to be reviewed every 10 years.
To respond to changes on Te Tai Poutini West Coast, including:
1. the impacts of climate change, for example on species and infrastructure
2. shifts in recreation and visitor flows
3. changes in technology, such as e-bikes and drones.
To reflect the evolving partnership between DOC and Poutini Ngāi Tahu across the region and enable the interests and aspirations of Poutini Ngāi Tahu.
To set up a clear statutory framework. Currently, the CMS implements general conservation policies and establishes objectives for all public conservation lands on Te Tai Poutini West Coast, including national parks. Although the CMS review process doesn’t change any national park management plan (NPMP), the new CMS will direct management of national parks to the relevant NPMP, and the NPMP will implement the CMS and establish detailed objectives for the national park.

Our outcomes

We intend to develop an adaptive and strategic CMS that:

has the values, interests and aspirations of Poutini Ngāi Tahu and the West Coast community at its core
meets legislative requirements
advances conservation outcomes.

How to get involved

Our online survey and colouring competition are now closed. We will be in touch with winners of the children’s colouring competition.

Thank you to all who completed our survey, took part in our colouring competition, or came to a community event on Te Tai Poutini West Coast. Your feedback will help shape the future of conservation on Te Tai Poutini West Coast.

We received over 1,000 survey responses and have begun the work of analysing them so they can inform the draft CMS.

We look to publish a summary of engagement results on this web page next year.

Review timeline

A CMS review process is set out in the Conservation Act 1987.

There are five phases to a CMS review:

Project planning
Drafting the strategy
Public notification and hearings
Revision and approval
Implementing the strategy

The public feedback we gathered during early engagement will be used to draft a new CMS. Once this is ready, we will publicly notify the draft and ask for your submissions.

We will keep you updated through this web page as the project progresses.

Learn more about our conservation management strategies.