Ruataniwha setback?

This follows a successful appeal by Forest & Bird against a High Court decision which allowed the land swap so that the dam project could proceed. The dam is aimed at irrigating about 25,000ha of farm land in Central Hawke's Bay.

The Department of Conservation had proposed swapping 22ha of the Ruahine Forest Park for 170ha that the Hawke's Bay Regional Investment Co Ltd (HBRIC) proposed to buy from Smedley Station. This would have triggered a downgrade of the protected conservation status of the land to allow it to be flooded as part of the Ruataniwha scheme.

HBRIC, the investment arm of Hawke's Bay Regional Council, last year reached agreement with DOC to exchange the land.

The swap was agreed to last October, but Forest & Bird challenged the decision by the director-general of conservation, saying not only was it illegal, but it also had implications throughout New Zealand for specially protected land under the Conservation Act 1987.

"This land swap would have set a precedent for up to one million hectares of specially protected conservation land, which includes forest parks, conservation parks and ecological and wilderness areas," says Forest & Bird lawyer Sally Gepp.

"This case goes to the heart of the purpose of the Conservation Act 1987 and upholds Forest & Bird's position that specially protected conservation land should not be subject to commercial or political whim."