One-third of New Zealand conservation land is stewardship land which has low legal protection. This is unfinished business from the 1987 reorganisation of Crown land which saw major areas without a specific conservation status placed under the jurisdiction of the Department of Conservation with their classification to be completed some time into the future. That reclassification process is underway now.

The Government is consulting on the future status of these areas, and there are many decisions to be made about the level of protection to be given. A number should be included in national parks, others should be designated as ecological areas, and the remainder should be placed in conservation parks or in other reserve status.

Please sign this petition from the Foreign and Bird Society calling for the reclassification of these lands into higher levels of protection. Decisions are due to be made shortly on more than 600,000 hectares of land on the West Coast. The petition will go to the Minister of Conservation, Hon Poto Williams. There is also a formal submission process being conducted by the Department of Conservation: have your say here by 26 July. This article sets out the issues at stake.