10. General
The Department of Conservation maintains and updates a series of pages within the DOC website (www.doc.govt.nz). The pages contain the names of board members, confirmed minutes and the board's annual reports. The page also carried the board's submission on the Issues and Discussion Paper on "Freshwater for a Sustainable Future".
A board sub-committee combined with the Department of Conservation in July 2004 to select recipients for the annual Wellington region conservation awards and took part in the award presentations during Conservation Week. Board members felt that the awards evening was a success and that the public interest and positive media coverage was encouraging for conservation.
During the report period, the board has received a number of briefings (apart from CMS monitoring reports) from department of Conservation staff on a variety of topics including the transfer of short-tail bats from the Tararua Range to Kapiti island; possum control; the impacts of flood events on facilities administered by the department; the Kapiti northern public lands visitor protocol; and hunter access and opportunities at the Lake Wairarapa wetlands. board members found these DOC briefings to be beneficial as they allowed an insight into these topics and issues surrounding them.