On Thursday, (11th April), Forest and Bird has announced the first ever Love DOC Day. The purpose of this day is for people to show the government their opposition to the recent cuts to the Department of Conservation (DOC). DOC is cutting 140 full-time jobs, after the government has slashed $8.7 million from their yearly budget. DOC has had $54 million slashed from it’s budget since 2009. Of the jobs cut 22 will be rangers and 118 will be from project management and administrative positions.

To accommodate for this cut, the existing 11 regional conservancies will be restructured into only 6 conservancies. Director-General Al Morrison says that this restructuring of the conservancies will increase effectiveness in working with external partners, while still maintaining the same delivery of work. However, there is general public concern that these massive cut-backs will have large negative effects on the conservation of New Zealand’s wildlife. There will be fewer workers to check traps, carry out pest control, monitor endangered species etc. When you look at the land area that DOC manages it makes up roughly a third of the total of all of New Zealand. This equates to around 8 million hectares for which DOC are responsible. Having worked in conservation I know that tasks carried out by DOC workers are not easy, they require a huge amount of fitness and determination on every individuals part. This cut will mean that DOC will have to become even more reliant on volunteers and community groups. While volunteers are much appreciated they often cannot put as much effort into conservation tasks as workers, as they have to work around commitments, such as their own jobs.

Another big worry is in the tourism industry, where New Zealand’s green image comes from our extensive conservation efforts, largely from DOC looking after and managing our unique biodiversity. It is our green image is a huge draw card for many tourists. Tourism brings significant money into our economy each year, yet DOC are expected to maintain this green image with less funding and workers. How is this fair?

While John Key says that these cuts will not have an effect on either tourism or our endangered species, I do not feel rest assured. I share the concerns of other greenies out there, that these cuts are going to affect our endangered species, and not in a positive way. The job cuts are going to see many highly skilled and experienced conservation workers go, how can this not have an affect?

References and Useful Links:

http://www.doc.govt.nz/about-doc/news/media-releases/doc-proposes-changes-to-increase-conservation/

http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/what-we-do/publications/media-release/doc-job-cuts-even-worse-thought

http://forestandbird.org.nz/what-we-do/publications/media-release/love-doc-day-declared-tomorrow

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10873708

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/department-of-conservation/news/article.cfm?o_id=258&objectid=10876498

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/blogs/bull-dust/8478550/The-real-price-of-the-DOC-cuts

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10874388&ref=rss