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View media releases from previous years.
Date: 02 June 2023 A photo of an angler holding a stunning brown trout caught at Lake Otamangakau is the overall winner of this year’s DOC Taupō fishery photo competition.
Date: 31 May 2023 DOC has decided to take more time to make sure its booking system for Great Walks is performing well before opening bookings for next season.
Date: 26 May 2023 Two certified rodent detection dogs are traversing the Mokohinau Islands and Rakitū this week to ensure not a single rodent is present.
Date: 26 May 2023 DOC is temporarily closing three popular bridges in the Wānaka area for safety reasons.
Date: 26 May 2023 The results from DOC's visitor insights for the 2022/23 summer have revealed a few twists.
Date: 19 May 2023 Two species of tāpia/mistletoe semiparasitic native plants are being returned to Pirongia Forest Park in Waikato.
Date: 16 May 2023 One of New Zealand’s rarest bird species has suffered a disappointing blow to the population after up to 50 birds died in the past year.
Date: 12 May 2023 Recent stormy weather in the southern South Island has led to large numbers of tītī landing, or crash-landing, inland or along the Southland and Otago coast.
Date: 09 May 2023 DOC has two new rangers-in-training to help protect Taranaki’s endangered wildlife – puppies Pip and Roscoe.
Date: 09 May 2023 Big changes have been made to DOC’s annual Name the Chick competition for this year’s big Royal Cam star, with those submitting a name asked to take action to protect albatross.
Date: 05 May 2023 DOC is again urging people to keep their dogs under control in coastal areas after a necropsy confirmed the penguin dumped in an Otago bin was killed by a dog.
Date: 04 May 2023 The summer breeding season posed significant challenges for the nationally critical tara iti / NZ fairy tern.
Date: 03 May 2023 Hunters and their supporters from around the North Island converged on DOC’s Pureora field base at the weekend for the culmination of the annual Pureora Hunting Competition, which was dominated by one local hunter.
Date: 01 May 2023 Several of the DOC’s visitor sites in Coromandel’s Kauaeranga Valley will be closed this month for maintenance and repairs.
Date: 01 May 2023 Conservation professionals from across New Zealand will converge on Waikato this week for a conference focussed on protection of native bats/pekapeka.
Date: 28 April 2023 The Department of Conservation is working with its IT vendor to resolve a booking system fault and will reopen the 2023/24 Great Walks bookings in mid-June.
Date: 27 April 2023 A new 64-metre bridge is planned for the St James Cycle Trail, near Hanmer Springs, meaning the Great Ride will once again be ridable from Maling Pass to the St James Homestead.
Date: 27 April 2023 New Zealand’s two rare native bat/pekapeka species are only doing well in places under intensive predator control, confirms the latest threat classification report published by DOC today.
Date: 24 April 2023 The stoat at the centre of a major biosecurity response on predator free Chalky Island/Te Kākahu-O-Tamatea has been caught, DOC announced today.
Date: 20 April 2023 Taranaki Maunga’s Around the Mountain Circuit has been closed until further notice due to severe storm damage and constant erosion. Sections of track have been wiped out in recent weeks.
Date: 19 April 2023 The mystery of Manaia’s wayward weka has deepened with the capture of a second weka discovered in the South Taranaki township.
Date: 18 April 2023 An adult male Māui or Hector’s dolphin found dead on an isolated south Auckland beach has been determined to have died from toxoplasmosis.
Date: 18 April 2023 Sophisticated DNA technology has detected a previously unknown population of critically threatened Clutha flathead galaxias in Central Otago’s Ōrau/Cardrona River.
Date: 14 April 2023 Twenty-one Kapitia skinks relocated from Auckland Zoo to their home habitat on the West Coast earlier this week.
Date: 14 April 2023 DOC is updating accommodation prices for huts, lodges, some campsites, the West Coast’s Paparoa Track, and off-season rates for some Great Walk huts.
Date: 13 April 2023 With the recreational pāua fishing season in Kaikōura opening this month, DOC and Te Rūnanga o Kaikōura are reminding people taking pāua or any other fishing is not allowed inside Hikurangi Marine Reserve.
Date: 06 April 2023 Source: Office of the Minister of Conservation Bookings for New Zealand’s iconic Great Walks will open from 20 April.
Date: 05 April 2023 Hunters and trampers heading into the outdoors are encouraged to be considerate of others over the busy Easter period.
Date: 05 April 2023 A kākāriki karaka/orange-fronted parakeet population has been re-established and is already breeding in Hawdon Valley, in Arthur’s Pass National Park, following four successful releases this summer.
Date: 04 April 2023 Rats on the Cook Islands’ Palmerston Atoll could be gone for good by year’s end, making a massive difference to the island’s community and biodiversity.
Date: 27 March 2023 A new marine reserve ranger has increased efforts to stop illegal fishing inside Kapiti Marine Reserve and thanks locals for their contribution.
Date: 23 March 2023 The body of a Māui or Hector’s dolphin has been found washed up on an Auckland beach.
Date: 23 March 2023 A Manawatu-based Jobs for Nature project is restoring habitat in the Southern Ruahine to bring a North Island eastern brown kiwi population back to the area.
Date: 22 March 2023 DOC rangers are calling on the public’s help to report sightings of the pest fish koi carp, gambusia and rudd in Taranaki waterways.
Date: 20 March 2023 Westland whio have recently had their own census with some special dogs helping the enumeration.
Date: 16 March 2023 The popular and long-running Pureora hunting competition returns this year after a COVID-related hiatus.
Date: 16 March 2023 DOC is urging dog owners to keep their pets under control following the deaths of two yellow-eyed penguins/hoiho.
Date: 14 March 2023 DOC and Taranaki Iwi are asking for information after a native tākapu/Australasian gannet was found shot at Tuiraho (Stent Road), a popular surfing beach in Taranaki.
Date: 07 March 2023 The 2023 round of short-tailed bat/pekapeka monitoring has just been completed in the Pureora Forest.
Date: 03 March 2023 Seaweek, Aotearoa New Zealand’s national week to celebrate the sea, begins tomorrow, March 4.
Date: 21 February 2023 Anyone heading into the outdoors in Otago and Southland must show extreme caution to reduce fire risks in the current tinder-dry conditions.
Date: 17 February 2023 People are being urged to check tracks, huts and campsites are open before attempting to visit conservation land in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle.
Date: 15 February 2023 Work to rebury a sperm whale in Coromandel is expected to begin later this week as the district cleans up after Cyclone Gabrielle.
Date: 12 February 2023 DOC facilities throughout Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne and the Hawke’s Bay have been closed to the public as Cyclone Gabrielle heads toward the country.
Date: 09 February 2023 Iconic Coromandel visitor spot Cathedral Cove has been temporarily closed to the public due to an ongoing landslip and rockfall risk.
Date: 08 February 2023 Eighteen juvenile tūturuatu/tchūriwat’/shore plover were successfully translocated to Portland/Waikawa Island.
Date: 07 February 2023 Several tracks are closed and campsites in the northern Coromandel remain unavailable as DOC staff continue assessing damage after January’s intense weather event.
Date: 07 February 2023 The rāhui in place at Ōpoutere Beach, the Wharekawa Harbour, and Wharekawa River following a drowning incident in January has been lifted.
Date: 03 February 2023 Research to help address the impact of the climate crisis on biodiversity is a notable feature amongst topics that received DOC postgraduate scholarship funding this year.
Date: 01 February 2023 DOC huts and campsites across the Coromandel Peninsula have been closed to visitors amid warning-level weather forecasts and treacherous driving conditions.
Date: 31 January 2023 DOC teams based in Auckland, the Hauraki Gulf Islands and Great Barrier Island have been responding to the extreme weather event.
Date: 31 January 2023 Thirteen juvenile whio/blue duck are now riding river rapids in Arthur’s Pass National Park, after being helicoptered to their new home last week.
Date: 27 January 2023 DOC is reminding visitors that a 'pack in, pack out' waste management policy for its campgrounds in the wider Whangarei area starts on 1 February.
Date: 25 January 2023 A citizen science project encouraging the public to report sightings of kekeno/NZ fur seals around the upper North Island has been extended into summer.
Date: 24 January 2023 Manaia man Pete Andreoli did a double take when he saw a weka wandering around a back yard in the little South Taranaki township.
Date: 20 January 2023 A rāhui has been placed over Ōpoutere Beach, the Wharekawa Harbour and Wharekawa River following a drowning and missing person search.
Date: 11 January 2023 DOC is asking visitors to Nelson Lakes National Park this summer to help to protect its pristine alpine lakes from an alga that causes mucus-like ‘lake snow’.
