2025 media releases

Date: 23 April 2025
After heavy rainfall over Easter weekend, a bridge on the Hooker Valley Track, one of New Zealand’s most popular tourist destinations, has been closed by the Department of Conservation.

Date: 22 April 2025
DOC’s North Taranaki Visitor Centre will temporarily close in late April while demolition on the aging visitor centre building begins.

Date: 19 April 2025
DOC urges caution after reopening tracks to Mautohe Cathedral Cove, following severe weather brought by ex-tropical Cyclone Tam.

Date: 17 April 2025
$9.2 million from DOC’s Community Fund has been awarded to 20 groups protecting threatened species and ecosystems across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Date: 17 April 2025
A free licence, a lasting momento, and bragging rights: all of this is on the table for contenders in this year’s Taupō Fishery photo competition.

Date: 16 April 2025
The onset of Cyclone Tam has prompted DOC to close tracks to Coromandel’s Mautohe Cathedral Cove and urge visitors not to go to the famous beach.

Date: 16 April 2025
Source: Department of Conservation and Marlborough District Council
DOC and Marlborough District Council urge boaties to take care around the district’s colonies of the endangered king shag, especially during the winter breeding season.

Date: 15 April 2025
DOC rangers say dog faeces left behind on Southland’s Foveaux Walkway have reached ‘obscene’ levels and may see dogs being excluded from the track entirely, unless things improve.

Date: 15 April 2025
Information released today by the DOC reveals more detail on several marine mammal species, helping to improve how they are managed in New Zealand.

Date: 14 April 2025
Source: National Wilding Conifer Control Programme, Department of Conservation and Waikato Regional Council
Work to remove hundreds of wilding conifers at Coromandel’s Opera Point Reserve will begin this week.

Date: 14 April 2025
Named after one of fiction’s most notorious characters, the threatened freshwater fish Gollum galaxias has been confirmed at several sites in the Waimatuku Stream near Invercargill.

Date: 16 April 2025
Kaiteretere has an extra splash of colour this summer from a new mural celebrating the Tonga Island Marine Reserve.

Date: 10 April 2025
A colony of black-fronted terns/tarapirohe near Twizel has defied the odds and raised a bumper number of fledglings this year despite an unprecedented season of challenging weather.

Date: 10 April 2025
Work to contain the contaminated contents of an historic landfill is underway at Bluff’s Ocean Beach.

Date: 08 April 2025
A juvenile Tara iti/NZ fairy tern has been tracked taking a series of marathon flights around the upper North Island.

Date: 04 April 2025
Lecture by DOC Director-General Penny Nelson at Otago Tourism Policy School on Thursday 3 April 2025.

Date: 03 April 2025
Crocodile jerky, whale and bear meat, and luxury handbags made from python and crocodile are among the goods seized or surrendered last year as part of DOC’s CITES responsibilities.

Date: 01 April 2025
A DOC survey shows whio duckling numbers in Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki have hit a record high, with whio now a regular sight on Taranaki Maunga.

Date: 28 March 2025
Source: Office of Minister for Hunting and Fishing
A new and improved hunting permit system will make it easier for New Zealanders to go hunting on public conservation land Minister for Hunting and Fishing James Meager says.

Date: 28 March 2025
DOC has intensified trapping at a wild takahē site in the Greenstone Valley near Queenstown after four recent takahē deaths pointed to stoat predation.

Date: 28 March 2025
Source: Office of the Minister of Conservation
Prompt improvements to the Wildlife Act will ensure infrastructure developments and important conservation work can continue supporting our growing economy while protecting our precious wildlife, Conservation Minister Tama Potaka says.

Date: 27 March 2025
Two geckos living on a predator free island off the North Canterbury coast are thought to be the oldest in the world at around 60 and 64 years.

Date: 27 March 2025
Good homes are urgently needed for more than 250 Kaimanawa horses due to be mustered from the Waiouru Military Training area in late April 2025.

Date: 26 March 2025
New research offers invaluable insights into the challenges faced in protecting local bottlenose dolphins in Te Pēwhairangi/Bay of Islands.

Date: 24 March 2025
New tracks and traps are closing a gap in the Central Southern Alps Whio Security Site, bringing the site closer to its goal of 50 protected whio pairs.

Date: 22 March 2025
It is with great sadness that Ngāti Hikairo ki Tongariro acknowledge a recent death in Tongariro National Park.

Date: 21 March 2025
A DOC survey to better understand Hector’s dolphins in the Otago region is now underway and progressing well.

Date: 20 March 2025
Experts from the United States, Australia and Aotearoa are taking flight from Whakatāne to learn more about Critically Endangered leatherback turtles.

Date: 19 March 2025
The Department of Conservation (DOC) is investigating after nine kiwi were found dead in the Wharengaere area of Purerua, eastern Northland – six since mid-February. Most show signs of trauma consistent with dog attacks.

Date: 18 March 2025
Work is underway to repair a damaged section of the Coromandel Walkway.

Date: 18 March 2025
Work to clean up an historic landfill 2.5 km south of Milford Sound Piopiotahi is due to begin in April.

Date: 13 March 2025
A team reviewing underwater footage in Fiordland were amazed to find a great white shark eyeballing their camera recently.

Date: 12 March 2025
This afternoon, five rehabilitated green turtles were released back into the wild in Rangaunu Harbour, Northland, marking the beginning of an important three-year research project.

Date: 11 March 2025
A large digger isn’t something usually seen in a protected wetland, but it’s proven vital in a collaborative effort to remove an invasive weed species.

Date: 05 March 2025
A crucial new wild kākāriki karaka/orange-fronted parakeet population is being established on Pukenui/Anchor Island following the release of 34 of the critically endangered manu there.

Date: 03 March 2025
Hunters entering this year’s Pureora Hunting Competition are urged to target both hinds and stags, as DOC staff seek more information on the forest’s deer herd.

Date: 03 March 2025
Two parties have been chosen to manage Pūponga Farm Park, adjacent to Golden Bay’s Onetahua/Farewell Spit.

Date: 27 February 2025
South Island kākā, Charlie Girl, will remain at the Dunedin Botanic Garden Aviary where she’s being well looked after, for the foreseeable future, following an independent assessment into the parrot’s welfare.

Date: 24 February 2025
The future looks set to bloom for 1000 seedlings of Nationally Endangered Gardner’s tree daisy germinated at Tongariro Prison Nursery.

Date: 21 February 2025
New Zealand is partnering with global conservation charities to raise $137 million to rewild some of Aotearoa’s largest islands so they become safe havens for native wildlife found nowhere else in the world.

Date: 18 February 2025
DOC has announced that bookings for the 2025/26 season for New Zealand’s Great Walks and other huts and campsites will open in May.

Date: 18 February 2025
The latest report on New Zealand amphibians’ conservation status confirms higher numbers of Archey’s frogs than previously known, although they’re still at risk of extinction.

Date: 17 February 2025
Source: Office of the Minister of Conservation
The Government is investing $30 million from the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy to fund more than a dozen projects to boost biodiversity and the tourist economy, Conservation Minister Tama Potaka says.

Date: 14 February 2025
DOC is reminding the public of the critical importance of protecting tara iti (fairy tern) nesting sites following an incident at Mangawhai Heads in late December 2024, during the birds’ peak breeding season.

Date: 13 February 2025
DOC will be holding public hearings on Whakapapa Holdings Limited’s concession application from 17 February to 19 February 2025.

Date: 12 February 2025
Efforts to expand a wild population of takahē near Queenstown began yesterday with the release of 18 birds in the Rees Valley.

Date: 10 February 2025
Starting from bare ground near Arowhenua Marae in Temuka, a Jobs for Nature project to support the Rakitata River Revival project now employs 11 people.

Date: 10 February 2025
DOC is exploring alternatives to its management role at Te Anau Bird Sanctuary/Te Punanga Manu following a review into the facility and its operations.

Date: 10 February 2025
A DOC-led spartina control operation will focus on an infestation of the plants in the inter-tidal areas of Coromandel Harbour later this month.

Date: 07 February 2025
DOC will begin the latest Maaui dolphin abundance estimate survey next week, continuing vital work to monitor and protect one of the world’s rarest marine mammals.

Date: 05 February 2025
DOC plans to control a mouse plague that is threatening to destroy a small population of critically endangered Alborn skinks near Reefton using the toxin brodifacoum in bait stations.

Date: 04 February 2025
DOC staff are cautiously optimistic about the 2024/2025 tara iti/New Zealand fairy tern breeding season, which is tracking within expectations for the critically threatened species.

Date: 31 January 2025
The first release of seven juvenile whio in the Moeraki valley, north of Haast, is a milestone for West Coast whio conservation efforts.

Date: 31 January 2025
The internationally significant Whangamarino Wetland has proven more resilient to fire than expected, thanks to the healthy state of the peatland before the blaze.

Date: 30 January 2025
More than 150 remote predator traps set to protect native species in Mt Aspiring National Park have been systematically tampered with says DOC.

Date: 30 January 2025
A major assessment released by DOC shows many of New Zealand’s native plants and animals are in for a rough time as climate change impacts increase.

Date: 30 January 2025
A Department of Conservation study is predicting more extreme weather for New Zealand’s southernmost subantarctic island, which is likely to impact the sealions, albatross and other threatened species living there.

Date: 29 January 2025
Orca pod sightings in two Waikato harbours have prompted DOC staff to remind boaties, kayakers and jet-skiers about the rules for interactions with marine mammals.

Date: 29 January 2025
The sea is rapidly claiming their home due to climate change, but the recent move of critically threatened Whenua Hou diving petrel to a new site could help secure their future.

Date: 23 January 2025
DOC has begun an incursion response on predator free Ulva Island after a rat was found dead in a trap last week during routine surveillance.

Date: 23 January 2025
DOC and the Backcountry Trust (BCT) are partnering on 30 recreational hut projects this summer – great news for lovers of New Zealand’s backcountry and those looking to volunteer outdoors, says DOC.

Date: 21 January 2025
Attempting to wriggle from its handler’s grasp, a brown kiwi has eagerly returned home to the wild near the Parapara Road Banana Bridge, following its recovery from being hit by a car.

Date: 21 January 2025
Hundreds of people a day are visiting Mautohe Cathedral Cove’s famous beach following the reinstatement of walking access to the popular Coromandel location.

Date: 20 January 2025
Source: Department of Conservation and Auckland Zoo
In a fortunate turn of events, an “insurance” population of 148 cobble skinks has been returned to the wild north of Westport on the South Island’s West Coast.

Date: 19 January 2025
Iwi, DOC, and Project Jonah teams have been responding to two separate whale stranding events this weekend in the South Island.

Date: 17 January 2025
DOC rangers and a hut warden were in the right place at the right time to help a hiker in the Nelson Lakes National Park.

Date: 14 January 2025
Source: Department of Conservation and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu
Hoiho appear on our five-dollar note and are one of the rarest penguins in the world with only 143 known nests on mainland New Zealand including Stewart Island/Rakiura.

Date: 09 January 2025
DOC is seeking information from the public, following reports of seabirds being captured in fishing nets and drowned from a boat near Slipper Island/Whakahau, Coromandel.

Date: 09 January 2025
DOC’s marine mammal disentanglement team were able to free the entangled dolphin around western Auckland yesterday.

Date: 08 January 2025
DOC’s Queenstown visitor centre will be temporarily operating from Glenorchy between 13-26 January 2025.

Date: 07 January 2025
DOC is calling for public assistance in locating an entangled bottlenose dolphin reported in waters around western Auckland.