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 ofConservation in 1987. As part of the re-organisation of Crown land the Government transferred responsibility for large areas of land which 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.