Ministerial foreword
The New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy adopted last year and funded with an unprecedented $187m over five years underlined the Labour-Alliance coalition's commitment not only to halting the loss of indigenous biodiversity but also to restoring natural habitats along with indigenous animal and plant species.
Wild deer will continue to be valued as a recreational and commercial hunting resource, but under the Biodiversity Strategy the protection of our unique plants and animals and the places they live takes precedence over introduced species. We will not place at risk those things found nowhere else on earth such as our indigenous forests and grasslands which give New Zealand - and its people - a unique identity.
The release of this policy statement marks the end of a period of consultation on deer management that began in 1997. It is not a plan in the mould of the Department of Conservation's possum and goat plans, which list and rank areas for control. Rather, it is a starting point for working with the many people with an interest in deer - commercial and recreational hunters, iwi, deer farmers, conservationists and other agencies - with a clearer idea of the outcomes the Department is working towards and the approach it will take to achieving them. It signals a move from single species control plans to a more integrated approach to controlling the range of threats to indigenous biodiversity, of which deer are just one of many.
The right of New Zealanders to hunt deer on public conservation land for recreation, trophy value and venison is being enhanced through this policy statement. The existing hunter permit system will be streamlined and restrictions on recreational hunting will be removed, as a first step towards removing the need for hunting permits entirely. This will make it easier in future to hunt deer.
The uniqueness of New Zealand's indigenous biodiversity and the fact it can not be conserved anywhere else in the world means that responsibility for its protection rests with each of us. Under this policy statement, every group involved with deer management has a crucial role in working to protect and enhance native species, their natural habitats and ecosystems.
Sandra Lee
Minister of Conservation
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