A bill introduced in the New Zealand House of Representatives would make sweeping changes to the administration of lands managed by the Department of Conservation. A comment period is open through July 2. Read below to learn more about the bill and how you can provide input.

Words by Ben Burkhart of Wellington, New Zealand.

The New Zealand government has introduced the Conservation Amendment Bill to Parliament. Conservation land covers a third of the country’s land area, and a lot of trails and bikepacking routes lie on conservation land. This includes three routes listed here on BIKEPACKING.com, No. 8 Wired, Top of the South, and the Old Ghost Road. Races like Tour Te Waipounamu include a lot of this land as does the Tour Aotearoa, the route that spans the length of the country.

  • No. 8 Wired, Bikepacking New Xealand
  • fronting up tour te Waipounamu

With this Bill, 60% of conservation land could be exposed to exchange or disposal, including sale or trade. This could remove or degrade access to these iconic routes and parks. On the other 40%, including all national parks and even World Heritage Areas, commercial use and development would be enabled, with a core focus on profit “to the greatest extent practicable.” Forest & Bird has detailed maps of affected lands.

In short, this Bill could seriously change access and the character of bikepacking in NZ.

Of course, different points of view exist. An article by a conservation and outdoors professional argues that some parts of the Bill respond to real, longstanding problems in conservation law and administration, and that some criticism may overstate how much the Bill changes existing practice.

Top of the South, TOTS, Bikepacking Route, New Zealand

The comment period is currently open through Thursday, 2 July, 2026. Anyone can submit, whether you’re a citizen, a resident, a tourist, or even if you just dream of riding through New Zealand’s landscapes.

There are a number of resources to help you:

If you want to do more:

Further Reading

Make sure to dig into these related articles for more info...

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