Third consultation on 2018 WARO land access recommendations
Introduction
Have your say if you’re affected by WARO on the third and final consultation about the national WARO land access recommendations. Submissions closed 11 May 2022.Submissions will now be considered and recommendations reviewed for inclusion in a report seeking a decision on the final WARO land schedule by end of June 2022.
The reason for this third and final round of consultation is to seek additional feedback:
- on draft recommendations made available between December 2018 and February 2019, particularly from those who were unable to do so previously, and
- some recent amendments to those recommendations.
People who have previously sent feedback are welcome to do so again.
Context
Nationally, the presence of deer is increasing across public conservation land. This means more control effort is needed to protect native vegetation from deer.
WARO is a key tool, alongside recreational hunting, to control deer on public conservation land.
National WARO review – final consultation context.
Previous consultations
DOC considered the June/July 2018 and December 2018/February 2019 feedback from stakeholders. Districts and regions considered location-specific feedback and provided comments on these to a national panel. The national panel is made up of DOC staff from Legal, Technical – threats and Permissions (concessions).
Feedback was assessed against the Wild Animal Control Act, Deer Control Policy, other legislation and relevant statutory planning documents. The national panel made revised recommendations based on all this information. For many locations, the feedback received wasn’t consistent with the legislation or deer control policy and so couldn’t be accepted.
More about the previous consultations.
Summary of submissions
Summary of submission comments received during the June/July 2018 and December/February 2019 stakeholder consultations.
Summary of submissions 2018-19 (PDF, 329K)
Why there's another consultation
When DOC began consultation, we informed stakeholders we would seek further feedback where land recommendations changed or new land was added. Recommendations made available for feedback during the December 2018/February 2019 consultation only went to June/July 2018 submitters. DOC now wants to give all potentially affected stakeholders a final chance to have their say on the changes proposed during the December 2018/February 2019 consultation and some other amendments made recently.
What's being changed
This document details the recommended access changes for WARO.
It takes around 10 minutes to read fully.
- December 2018/February 2019 land access recommendations with March 2022 amendments (PDF, 300K)
- March 2022 maps showing draft recommended WARO access (ZIP, 19.6MB)
If you need a more accessible version of these documents contact us.
Consultation process
Feedback is limited to only places that have changed
The purpose of consultation is to ensure we have feedback on the land recommendations to better inform the decision. Where recommendations have not changed, we do not need additional feedback. That said, we also need more feedback from stakeholders that were unable to make submissions during the December 2018/February 2019 consultation period.
Recommendations allow for recreational hunter effort
DOC needs both recreational hunters and WARO to control wild animals. In general terms, both are also required by legislation (but depending on the land classification) and Deer Control Policy. History has shown if WARO is completely excluded, deer numbers generally increase.
Recreational hunter effort is taken into account by having, as a minimum, WARO exclusion periods during Christmas, the Roar, and Easter, and by having some areas where WARO is excluded year-round.
How this process relates to the tahr control operation
Tahr are not included in the national WARO concession. They are managed under the Himalayan Thar Control Plan 1993 (HTCP). Any aerial shooting of tahr must be consistent with the Wild Animal Control Act and the HTCP. Separate authorisations are required for commercial aerial control of tahr.
Give feedback
People who have sent feedback are welcome to do so again.
Feedback closed 5 pm Wednesday 11 May 2022.
You can send your feedback to us by email.
Email: waro@doc.govt.nz
Subject line: March consultation feedback
What we'll do next
Further feedback will be considered and assessed against the Wild Animal Control Act, Deer Control Policy, other relevant legislation and statutory plans. Recommendations will then be finalised before going to the decision-maker – the Director Planning, Permissions & Land.
Contact
If you have questions about this process contact waro@doc.govt.nz