Yesterday EDS and Forest & Bird jointly filed judicial review proceedings in the High Court seeking to overturn 99 of the Minister of Conservation’s decisions on the review of stewardship land on the West Coast of the South Island.
Stewardship land constitutes about 35% of the conservation estate on the West Coast. Much of it has significant landscape and ecological values and warrants a high protective status including national park.
“We made a substantive submission to the Minister that went through each of the 576 parcels of land and recommended a preferred outcome in each case,” said EDS CEO Gary Taylor.
“But the Minister largely ignored that advice and in many instances said “no” without giving any reasons for his decision. The judicial review seeks a ruling from the High Court that he must give reasons. Then the substantive outcomes can be challenged where the reasoning is defective.
“Extensive tracts of pristine old-growth forest on the West Coast are on stewardship land, including areas recognised internationally as world Heritage Area (South Westland). These include the best remaining lowland forest in New Zealand and provide habitat for critically endangered species like Haast kiwi. Many of these lands adjoin national parks and have values like those in the parks.
“This is a very significant challenge involving a great deal of research and analysis, hence the 2 societies joining forces. We can see the conservation estate coming under more development pressure over the next few years so getting the appropriate conservation status in place will help protect our most precious places, as well as identifying areas where the values are less significant.
“We expect this proceeding may take some time to reach a conclusion and meantime we do not want to see any decisions made that would pre-empt the outcome,” Mr Taylor concluded.