Extra $349m over ten years for conservation

The Government has promised an extra $349m over ten years to the Department of Conservation - much of it to be used to help the department correctly provide for depreciation.

DoC will begin to pay for depreciation, which has been accumulating since the department's creation, from 2007/08.

It will begin at a rate of $18m a year for 15 years - a total of $270m, representing a significant chunk of the new funding.

The money will also be used to provide an average of $21.2m a year for annual depreciation, starting in 2002/03.

Conservation Minister Sandra Lee said the increase would also be used to increase DoC's annual operating budget for recreational facilities in stages until 2012, when it would reach an extra $24m a year.

Ms Lee said that many of DoC's hut were now reaching the end of their useful lives, and a review would begin of all outdoor facilities.

She said she had asked DoC to work closely with its stakeholders to address the question of which facilities would be maintained in the long term.

Dr Cullen said that DoC's funding initiative would progressively address the "scandalous under-maintenance of DoC's recreational facilities".

Conservation Minister Sandra Lee said the $349m increase in funding was the largest increase in funding for outdoor recreation on public conservation land ever agreed to by any government.