Image: Grant Maslowski | ©
Rowi habitat of Okarito Forest.
Background to Westland Tai Poutini National Park Management Plan 2018/19 review
DOC, in consultation with Ngāi Tahu and the West Coast Tai Poutini Conservation Board, stopped the review of the Westland Tai Poutini National Park Management Plan in 2019.

Stopping the review

The Plan review was paused February 2019 following the close of submissons to consider the implications of the Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki Supreme Court decision.

Changing environment

During the time the Plan review was paused, several things changed, not only affecting the Park but also the whole West Coast. These included:

  • more frequent large weather events and the effects of climate change on access and public safety
  • large additions to public conservation lands and waters in the region
  • many recreational activities have changed, and some have increased in popularity.

Statutory work programme

As a result, the statutory work programme for the West Coast was reprioritised to ensure statutory requirements were looked at holistically and the resources were prioritised in the right sequence. A national park management plan must be consistent with the conservation management strategy (CMS) and,owing to this, the need to review the CMS was identified as a priority

As a result, the decision was made to stop the review of the Westland Tai Poutini National Park Management Plan and undertake a full review of the West Coast CMS, which was approved in 2010.

We acknowledge the considerable time and effort stakeholders and submitters have put into the review and their submissions. The information provided in your submissions will not be lost and will be used when the review of the park plan resumes and will help inform the review of the CMS. 

View the draft plan

Draft Westland Tai Poutini National Park Management Plan (PDF, 9,782K)

Maps in the draft Plan

Download maps as individual files:

View submissions on the draft plan

DOC received 1,361 submissions on the draft plan. View copies of all submissions

Note: This links to our Cerberus download site. Get help on downloading files.

To help you find any particular submission, see index of submitter names and numbers (XLSX, 78K).

More information

Further background information on the draft plan can be found here: