24 March 2013 - Wellington

Forest & Bird media release for immediate use

DOC staff cuts will threaten wildlife, says Forest & Bird

Independent conservation organisation Forest & Bird says a Department of Conservation plan to lay off frontline staff in favour of recruiting volunteers will have serious impacts on the wildlife and landscapes DOC exists to protect.

The department will announce the latest round of redundancies on Tuesday. The cuts are expected to be significant, and follow several consecutive years of layoffs. Last year alone about 120 jobs were lost.

Forest & Bird is also concerned at a shift in DOC’s focus away from its core conservation work to commercial development and recreation.

“Volunteers are crucial to conservation in New Zealand, including the work that Forest & Bird does. But DOC has a unique role in part to protect the remote parts of the country and their threatened plants and animals that aren’t close to any towns or cities. These remote areas are impossible for volunteers to reach regularly,” says Forest & Bird Advocacy Manager Kevin Hackwell.

“Low numbers of people do not mean low numbers of possums, stoats and rats – quite the opposite. There’s no substitute for on the spot work by a paid and highly skilled staff member based in a remote but critical part of the country.

“When we go to hospital for an operation we expect our surgeon to be a properly qualified professional – we don’t expect to find a volunteer doing the job.

“The government is putting huge pressure on DOC to cut costs. Forest & Bird is very concerned that the department’s response to those cuts will significantly undermine both its professional capacity and its ability to deliver good conservation management.

“DOC plays a crucial role in protecting New Zealand’s clean green brand. That brand is worth billions to this country through the sale of everything from holidays to wine, food and clothing. And DOC has a legislative duty to protect for the future the native plants and animals that are found only in New Zealand.”

Forest & Bird believes DOC’s reliance on more commercial sponsorship is also risky. Until recently it looked like Solid Energy would be a major sponsor. That now looks highly unlikely.

DOC’s operating budget for the last financial year was $335 million – $25 million less than in 2008. “The price of constantly undermining DOC will be high indeed for our native plants and animals and for generations of New Zealanders to come,” says Kevin Hackwell.

ENDS