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The conservation estate, of which the Fiordland region is part, is the term used to describe the public lands managed by the Department of Conservation.35 _{It includes all New Zealand’s national parks, conservation}

parks and forest parks as well as a number of other reserves, and is made up of New Zealand’s most ecologically indigenous land. With a steady stream of land acquisitions, the size of the conservation estate in the twenty-first century continues to grow.36 _{By 2007, 31% of New Zealand’s land area was}

made up of the public conservation estate, while in the larger South Island the proportion was more than 40%.37

As a result of the size of the conservation estate, the Department of Conservation – the crown agency charged with its management – is by far the largest landowner in New Zealand. However it is not only its scale that gives the conservation estate its significance. It is also valued for a multitude of other roles that include the following.

The conservation estate is an integral part of global, national and regional ecological processes. Its extensive forests are recognised for their value as carbon sinks, while backcountry water catchments are important in ensuring water availability, water quality and also mitigating the downstream flooding impacts of storm events.

The conservation estate provides the only habitat for many indigenous flora and fauna species. It is the site of small and large-scale restoration and recovery projects with a current emphasis including establishing and maintaining offshore and mainland ecological islands.

It also contains many places of significance for tangata whenua including food-basket sites for local hapu, and spiritual importance for iwi.38 _Specific

35 It should be noted that some such as Kerry Marshall, the chair of the New Zealand Conservation Authority, stress that the conservation estate should be called at all times the public conservation estate. Marshall, 2006, Opening Address.

36 This is due to acquisitions as part of the South Island High Country Land Tenure Review Process and also direct purchases of land from the Nature Heritage Fund (the latter has purchased 230,000 ha since 1990) see http://www.doc.govt.nz/templates/page.aspx?id=39023 : accessed 14th March 2008.

37 see Department of Conservation, 2007a, Annual Report to 30th June 2007, p190-192, and also

http://www.fedfarm.org.nz/speech_notes/da_SIHCconference_june2007.html : accessed 14th March 2008. 38 Within current Department of Conservation publications Tangata Whenua is defined as “Iwi or hapu that has

agreements between iwi and the crown as part of Treaty of Waitangi Commission settlements have invariably involved discussion over appropriate uses for the conservation estate.

The conservation estate includes many representative examples of New Zealand’s landforms and ecosystems. While the largest parcels of land are to be found along the mountainous areas of New Zealand there are also, in every region, many discrete parcels of the conservation estate interspersed amongst other land and land uses.

The conservation estate is a significant component of New Zealand’s continued growth in international tourism numbers. Images of indigenous flora and fauna, along with landscapes showing little evidence of human development have been the backbone of Tourism New Zealand’s 100% Pure branding campaign. The conservation estate is also the site for many tourism based products ranging from guided walks, glacier landings, fishing trips, jet boat rides, bungy jumps, mountaineering expeditions, ski-touring, kayaking and caving.

The conservation estate provides the site for a wide range of recreation activities for many locals, New Zealanders and international visitors alike. The activities of many recreation groups, including deer hunters, fly fishing, mountaineering, tramping, kayaking and caving, are conducted almost solely in the conservation estate. This emphasis on recreation also involves the provisioning of numerous facilities by the Department of Conservation such as visitor centres, huts, bridges, tracks, boardwalks, viewing platforms, way- finding signage and markers, maps and handbooks.

Different regions of the conservation estate are sought-after settings for many international films, most notably ‘The Lord of the Rings’, but also the likes of the ‘Narnia Chronicles’, ‘Vertical Limit’, ‘The Piano’ and a series of ‘Bollywood’ productions.39

ancestor”, and iwi is “a tribe or people. A group of several hapu with common ancestral links”. Department of Conservation, 2007c, Fiordland National Park Management Plan, p381-387

39 Currently in New Zealand large-budget movies are offered significant incentives if located in New Zealand. See http://www.filmnz.com/production-guide/large-budget-screen-production-grant-scheme.html : accessed 14th March 2008. Also filming is specifically cnsidered in the Conservation Management Strategies of each National Park. For example see Ibid, p342-343.

The conservation estate also evokes the heritage and ethos for various export-orientated industries including clothing, cosmetics, food and wine. Images of an unspoilt land are routinely used to make strong associations with a company’s environmental sensitivity and to infer a sustainable relationship with nature.

Because of its significance, the conservation estate continues to be a site for many environmental disputes as preservationist groups have sought to halt development proposals that affect conservation land and conservation values. In terms of Southern New Zealand this includes campaigns to stop the level of Lake Manapouri being raised for hydro-electric power schemes, gondolas and tunnels being built within the conservation estate so tourists can more readily access Milford Sound, a road link being built between Haast and the Hollyford Valley, exporting of potable water from the western Fiords, establishing aircraft landing sites west of Wanaka, mining in the Red Hills, milling forests in the Waitutu, and using the poison 1080 to eradicate pests.

Just as wilderness and Fiordland are inextricably linked so also is the appeal of wilderness embedded in people’s understanding of the conservation estate. It is arguably the dominant cultural metaphor by which it is currently conceptualised. While the earlier discussion of Fiordland-and-wilderness was drawn from publications orientated to the tourism market, similar statements to the qualities, importance, and fragility of wilderness are also made by the Department of Conservation, outdoor-user groups, guide books and clothing catalogues.