The Department of Conservation (DOC) is currently reviewing what a recent High Court decision (7 Mar) will mean for permit holders, after a permit they issued under Section 53 of the Wildlife Act was judged to be unlawful.

Section 53 of the Act allows the Director-General to authorise the taking or killing of wildlife for certain purposes however in the court case, the Environmental Law Initiative successfully argued that the purpose of the Wildlife Act was to keep protected species safe, not kill them.

The decision temporarily halted the DOC permit holder, Waka Kotahi, from proceeding with their Taranaki roading project at Mt Messenger - an area frequented by both kiwi and long-tailed bats.

It was only after the Minister of Conservation and the Minister of Transport applied Section 71 of the Wildlife Act - Saving of other Acts, that the project was able to continue.

DOC Deputy Director-General Policy and Regulatory Services, Ruth Isaac said the department was considering what the court decision meant for how it manages its Wildlife Act permissions responsibilities.

However she said the decision did not mean that operators currently holding Wildlife Act authorisations for projects involving the incidental killing of wildlife need to cease activities.

Existing authorisation holders should continue to undertake their activities consistent with the conditions of their authorisations and take all reasonable steps to ensure wildlife is not harmed, she said.

Isaac said that depending on the situation, the defence in s 68AB of the Act may be applicable.

We are working quickly to give authority holders certainty about what this means for their operations, she said.

It has been reported that a total of 85 DOC permits citing section 53 were issued in 2024.

DOC Director of Policy Sam Thomas confirmed that the Fiordland Trails Trust was issued a DOC permit under section 53, for its 2km section of cycle track from Patience Bay to Sinclair Road.

The permit included a special lizard management plan as the track traverses the possible habitat of Southland's threatened and nationally critical Green Skink.

Fiordland Trails Trust Chair David Boniface said as far as they knew [the recent ruling] didn't change anything too much for them.

"We have a set of conditions that were put in place with the permit that we got, and we are having to comply with all of the lizard trapping requirements of that before we can construct."

"The reality is that there hasn't been anything on the endangered list that has been found at this point, so it's relatively straightforward in that perspective with us."

Boniface said vegetation clearing on the new section was almost completed and base course construction had already started.

It was hoped the new section would be completed before winter, he said.