In this episode of Coherent, I speak with Allan Brent, the new President of Federated Mountain Clubs, about the Conservation Amendment Bill and what it could mean for outdoor recreation, public access, and the future of public conservation land.
FMC has described the Bill as possibly the biggest threat to conservation law and outdoor recreation in 40 years. Allan explains why: from the proposed new economic development function for DOC, to the much broader powers to sell or exchange conservation land, to the weakening of the New Zealand Conservation Authority and local conservation boards.
We talk about what can sound abstract in the law, but is very real on the ground: gravel pits, river margins, access strips, huts, tracks, backcountry valleys, ski field leases, tourism developments, and the ordinary ways people get into the hills. Allan also explains why even small areas of apparently low-value land can be critical for access to much larger landscapes.
The conversation also covers the Bill’s changes to Section 4 of the Conservation Act, the risks of concentrating more decision-making power in the Minister, and why Allan thinks the Government should stop, step back, and have a proper national conversation about what public conservation land is for.
At its heart, this is a conversation about land held for conservation, for public access, and as ancestral whenua — and whether decisions about that land should be made through a rushed law change, or through a much deeper democratic process.
Watch the video above or listen to the audio here:
