Category Archives: Home

Are We Still Asking the Wrong Questions? By Andi Cockroft, Chair, CORANZ About twenty years ago, I found myself at Waiouru representing a group of volunteers – figuratively loppers and saws in hand – ready willing and able to cut … Continue reading →

A recent Stuff story from Gore, here, where people experiencing homelessness were told to leave a motor camp, looks at first like a local social issue. But scratch the surface and a wider question emerges: what happens to outdoor access … Continue reading →

More Questions We Still Aren’t Answering Guest Post by Steve Hodgson After every major storm, the same images appear: rivers choked with logs, beaches buried in debris, bridges damaged, tracks closed, and communities left to clean up the aftermath. The … Continue reading →

What the Cape Brett Track Dispute Means for Outdoor Recreation Guest Post by John Davey This recent Stuff article [here] about the Cape Brett Track is easy to dismiss as a colourful local dispute. A private landowner, a diverted route, … Continue reading →

Questions New Zealand Should Be Asking Guest post by Dave Rhodes When officials themselves warn Cabinet about the risks of reducing penalties for deepwater fishers, it raises an obvious question: who carries the risk if those warnings are brushed aside? … Continue reading →

But, a Local Symptom of a National Water-Management Issue Guest Post by Dave Rhodes Heavy rainfall late last year dislodged vast amounts of lake weed in Lake Rotorua, leaving about 780 tonnes of invasive aquatic plants washed up along the … Continue reading →

Recent warnings to swimmers and dog owners about contaminated rivers in Wairarapa have prompted understandable concern. But this is not a local anomaly. It is part of a nationwide pattern that affects outdoor recreation across New Zealand, from summer swimming … Continue reading →

Public trust in science advice depends not only on the quality of evidence, but on confidence that advice is independent, transparent, and free from undue influence. That is especially true in New Zealand, where science advice directly informs decisions on … Continue reading →

What New Zealand Must Learn Post by Andi Cockroft, Chair, CORANZ Prompted by the article from RNZ, https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/584692/warzone-east-coast-flooding-damage-comes-to-light, further commentary and digging seemed appropriate: Heavy rainfall and flooding continue to dominate headlines across New Zealand, from devastating slips to widespread … Continue reading →

CORANZ is trialling a small but important change in how our website content is shared to social media. Over the past year, Facebook has significantly tightened its application permissions, which has caused several long-standing WordPress auto-posting tools to stop working … Continue reading →

Guest post by Steve Hodgson New Zealand has been using 1080 for decades. In that time, budgets have grown, control footprints have expanded, access restrictions have multiplied, and the language of urgency has become permanent. We are told the threat … Continue reading →

Time for an Honest Conversation By Andi Cockroft, Chair, CORANZ For decades, New Zealand has invested heavily in pest control to protect native forests and wildlife. The scale of that commitment reflects something most New Zealanders agree on: introduced predators … Continue reading →

Government Planning Changes Draw Fire - And What It Means for New Zealand Guest post by Dave Rhodes Forest & Bird has labelled recent government changes to national environmental direction a “war on nature,” warning that weakened safeguards for biodiversity … Continue reading →

CORANZ Members Should Engage Now Post by Andi Cockroft, Chair, CORANZ Two major pieces of legislation - the Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill - are before Parliament and are intended to replace the Resource Management Act (RMA). Both … Continue reading →

A Governance Problem, Not a Turbidity Debate Post by Andi Cockroft, Chair, CORANZ Recent reporting on the Kakahu River has been framed around murky water (eg: see here or here), irrigation pressure, and competing interests. Those elements matter, but they … Continue reading →

The announcement of a new national deer control initiative has been presented as a long-overdue step toward addressing the environmental and economic impacts of feral deer. It brings together government agencies and sector organisations, signals coordination, and promises better outcomes. … Continue reading →