Conservation Minister Tama Potaka is seeking public feedback on charging access to iconic destinations on public conservation land – potentially for Kiwis as well as international visitors
A $20 access charge for Kiwis and $30 for non-Kiwis could raise $70 million a year for the cash-strapped Department of Conservation, which needs $1.7 billion a year just to maintain its biodiversity responsibilities
Potaka is also seeking feedback on proposals to make the concessions process competitive and to make it easier to exchange or dispose of conservation land
A $20 access fee for Cathedral Cove, the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, Franz Josef Glacier, Milford Sound, and Aoraki Mount Cook National Park?
The Government is floating the idea of charging visitors – including New Zealanders – as part of two discussion documents, released today, which Conservation Minister Tama Potaka calls the biggest potential changes in conservation in more than three decades.
But it has triggered a strong reaction from Forest and Bird, which said: “Connection to te Taiao (nature) is a fundamental part of being a New Zealander. All New Zealanders should be guaranteed the ability to connect with our natural environment regardless of how much money they earn.”
It comes as the Department of Conservation (DoC) faces unprecedented financial pressure to manage its biodiversity and recreation-enabling responsibilities.
“New Zealand’s ecosystems are declining and nearly 4000 native species are either at risk or threatened with extinction ... DoC is only just ‘holding the line’ at present and cannot do this everywhere,” says the document about access fees.
It asks for feedback on who, if anyone, should pay for access, where the charges should apply, and how the potential revenue should be used. It suggests those five iconic sites, which collectively receive 2.6 million visitors a year.
Charging $20 per New Zealander and $30 per non-New Zealander for accessing those places would bring in an estimated $71 million a year. Charging only international visitors would yield about half that.
Charging access to Aoraki National Park is feasible because there is only one road in and out. Photo / Alan Gibson
Potaka said he did not have “a firm view” on whether New Zealanders had an inalienable right to access public conservation land for free.
“I think the average Kiwi, in certain specific places, would be up for that discussion because the average Kiwi recognises that looking after those iconic places does not come cost-free.”
And if some Kiwis say the generations before them had free access, so why should they pay?
“It’s absolutely the feedback that we’d like to hear about. But I think that most ordinarily New Zealanders would say, ‘Well, if we go to Australia, we’ve got to pay to go to their national parks, or in the United States and Canada’. So maybe we should charge international people when they come to some places and some National Park areas in this country.
“I would find it very hard to charge Kiwi kids to go to these places. But we’re just starting with an idea over a specific small number of places, not charging everyone to go everywhere.”
The minister ruffled some feathers in June when he told a select committee it would cost “maybe trillions” of dollars for DoC to save every endangered or at-risk species. DoC’s annual budget is about $650m, less than half of which is spent on biodiversity.
Potaka told the Herald it would cost about $2.3 billion a year just to “maintain the baseline biodiversity responsibilities”. DoC also has responsibility for several other matters including 14,600km of walking tracks, 2000 buildings and huts – half of which are more than 30 years old – and repairing those after weather bombs.
The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is one of the country's most popular day hikes. Photo / Bevan Conley
“We need to generate more revenue in order to carry the responsibilities out in an effective and efficient manner,” Potaka said.
“We are looking to figure out how can we make sure we’ve got sufficient funds so that the estate can be enjoyed, can be recreated, and we’ve got the appropriate health and safety and other standards in place.”
Feedback is sought until late February, with any legislative changes – which would be necessary for certain access fees – by the end of the parliamentary term.
The second discussion document looks at “modernising” the management of conservation land, including a competitive process for concessions, and more flexibility for trading or disposing of public conservation land of lower value.
Forest and Bird advocacy general manager Richard Capie said it was hard to see how conservation or biodiversity would be improved by selling off or trading conservation land, or increasing the potential for commercial activity.
“It’s clear DoC doesn’t have enough funding. But the answer to this is not to cut core funding in budget after budget and then claim that the only way to pay for it is to sell off land, make people pay for access, or ramp up commercial activities on land that is held first and foremost for conservation,” he said.
“We need a minister and department focused on Conservation, not Commercialisation.”
However, the Environmental Defence Society (EDS) supported some of the revenue-gathering proposals, given the “urgent need for more money for conservation”.
“Those who use the conservation estate for commercial purposes need to pay a fair rent,” said EDS policy director Raewyn Peart.
She agreed with “some access charging in principle” but the details will need to be “carefully worked through to ensure that New Zealanders are not excluded from accessing conservation areas”.
“EDS has been arguing for some years that the conservation system is no longer fit for purpose, so this is a welcome first step towards modernising it. The planning and concessions process in particular needs simplifying and streamlining.
“However, it will be important to build strong checks and balances into any new planning process.”
Conservation Minister Tama Potaka. Photo / Mark Mitchell
She added that making it easier for land exchanges “is a concern and needs careful thought”, and high value conservation land should be excluded.
WWF-New Zealand (a branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature) and Forest & Bird criticised the move as outsourcing responsibilities, raising questions over whether it could lead to strings attached and compromised projects.
Earlier this week, DoC also announced it would trial charging for car parks for the 2025/26 summer at three popular South Island sites: Punakaiki Pancake Rocks, Franz Josef Glacier, and White Horse Hill, in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park.
The International Visitor Levy has also increased from $35 to $100, with revenue ring-fenced for tourism and conservation.
Derek Cheng is a senior journalist who started at the Herald in 2004. He has worked several stints in the press gallery team and is a former deputy political editor.
