Environmental watchdog opposes creating more parks

An environmental watchdog has recommended against plans to create 22 national parks in the South Island's high country.

Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Dr Jan Wright yesterday questioned whether the Department of Conservation could afford to raise the number of parks from 14 to 22 as part of a review of Crown-owned land.

She made nine recommendations on how to improve the process of dividing about 1.7 million hectares of land between private lease-holders and the Department of Conservation.

Land Information New Zealand is about a quarter of the way through its review of the high country - much of which has been leased to farming families for generations.

Dr Wright recommended considering other ways of protecting land, such as selling it to private owners attached to covenants that would stop important patches from being developed.

She said some of the land ending up in DoC hands under the review was not of high conservation value. Maintenance of 22 high country parks could leave DoC with too many parks of one type and divert money from other projects such as marine parks.

Agriculture Minister David Carter agreed with the proposal to reduce the number of parks, saying the previous Government had acquired parks at the expense of farmer lease-holders.

But Forest and Bird spokesman Kevin Hackwell condemned the report, saying it contained "glaring mistakes" and would leave valuable conservation land in the hands of farmers who could not be trusted to protect it.

Elsewhere, Dr Wright said some of the country's cleanest and most beautiful lakes risked being polluted because of a lack of oversight for the division of land.

She wants the Government to establish a High Country Commission, saying it would be cheap compared with the $120 million the Government had already spent on the tenure review.