DOC

Decades of conservation experience and technical knowledge in the Wakatipu could be lost as a result of national restructuring of the Department of Conservation (Doc).

Healthy mohua (yellowhead) numbers and a partial beech tree mast have left the Department of Conservation in a quandary on the need for pest control on its land in the Catlins.

A Department of Conservation (Doc) project to protect a rare ecosystem near Queenstown will receive a helping hand from the Queenstown Climbing Club.

Time is running out for hunters who want to pursue game animals by helicopter on the South Island's conservation estate. Planned legislation is likely to end the practice known as ''heli-hunting'' by February. Mark Price reports.

Under the Department of Conservation's new structure, the Otago region disappears and 16 positions will be lost - five fewer than first proposed.

The Department of Conservation has now made a formal complaint to Queenstown Police in relation to tagging along the Routeburn Track.

Department of Conservation staff across Otago will have to wait until next week to find out what impact, if any, new government funding will have on their job prospects.

With its future hanging in the balance, the Otago Conservation Board has cancelled its next meeting.

Messages of support for Department of Conservation staff covered the doors of the Dunedin office yesterday in an appeal to the Government to reconsider cutting jobs.

Conservation organisations are worried rural frontline staff will be laid off and more emphasis placed on using volunteers when a restructuring announcement is made by the Department of Conservation today.

Wanaka and Te Anau Department of Conservation offices will be the hardest hit in the latest round of signalled cutbacks.

Department of Conservation Wanaka area manager Paul Hellebrekers has confirmed he is one of those losing his job as a result of the department's restructuring.

When it comes to delivering bad news about the fauna and flora of the nation, the same advice applies as to tramping near fairy tern nesting sites: tread with meticulous care.

Restructuring of the Department of Conservation has left the boards which provide strategic direction to the regions questioning their future.

The Department of Conservation (Doc) has appointed Jess Clark as co-ordinator for Project Gold to support community restoration of kowhai woodland throughout Otago.

A swathe of wilding pines in Skippers Canyon near Queenstown is the target of a new offensive by the Department of Conservation (Doc) in the war against the introduced tree which is a menace to biodiversity.