This page created 23 February 2000
Prior to the establishment of the Department of Conservation and State-owned Enterprises in the mid 1980's, there were very extensive tracts of State Forests, both indigenous and exotic, administered by the former NZ Forest Service. Under the Forest Service there was a strong tradition of providing for public recreational use of State Forests.
As a result of the 1980's restructuring the bulk of indigenous state forests were allocated to the new Department of Conservation and almost all exotic forests to the SOE, the NZ Forestry Corporation. The latter forests become known as Crown Forests, administered under the Crown Forest Assets Act 1989.
As a result of public concerns, the then Government agreed that allocation of state forests to Forest Corp would be subject to covenants and easements providing for the protection of certain features and for public access and recreation. Most of these arrangements were finalised in 1989 and are available here (pdf 572 k). This information may be out of date but will give a good starting point for determining what rights of access currently exist for individual forests.
As a result of Government privatisation policies most of the exotic forestry / cutting rights have been disposed of to the private sector under Crown Forest Licences, while retaining Crown ownership of the land. Easements and covenants should have been carried over to the licences from the original allocations to Forest Corp.
Crown Forest Licences are normally registered in the local Land Information New Zealand Land Transfer Office and are available for searching by the public, at a cost. To do this either a legal description (appellation) of the land, a Certificate of Title (CT) reference number, or licensee's name is required. As these records are now computerised in the LINZ offices, locating the correct parcel of land and licence should not present difficulties. To assist, LINZ has provided us with a schedule of all operative licences (December 1999). This is available here (pdf 224 k). However it will still be necessary to obtain the CTs for detail of covenants and easements.
If there are problems of public access or use of particular forests, the local office of DOC may be able to assist as they usually have some responsibility for covenants. However policy enquiries should be directed to the LINZ Head Office who administer the licences on behalf of the Crown (PO Box 5501, Wellington. Phone 04 460 0110. Fax 04 472 2244).
There is anecdotal evidence of widespread breaches of the terms of their licences by forestry companies where public access is being frustrated or denied. This situation is worsening with some companies wishing to 'diversify' their income. Carter Holt Harvey Forests Ltd, the holder of 18 Crown Forest Licences, "will consider new sources of revenue such as charging for recreational access to forests" (The Press, 20/10/99). To legally do so over Crown Forests will require the overturning of the terms of their licences. Hopefully the new government will resist such pressures.
PANZ has not looked closely at the administration of Crown Forests or the practices of licensees but may well do so. We suspect that many of the access and covenant provisions have fallen by the way with little or no official oversight or will to enforce their terms on the public behalf.
An official guide to recreational use of Crown Forest Licence land is available here (pdf 96 k).
If you have a particular interest in this subject or an access problem please advise PANZ.