Investigating the future of conservation: The case of stewardship land

This report is about stewardship land – a category of conservation land that makes up about one third of the land managed by the Department of Conservation.

The origin of stewardship land lies in the creation of the Department of Conservation in 1987. As part of the reorganisation of Crown land, the Government transferred responsibility for large areas of land that were not seen to be commercially valuable to the newly formed and protection-focused conservation department. The department was to act as steward of the land until its destiny was determined.