Isaak .
Whare Kaupapa Atawhai | Conservation House
18-32 Manners Street, Wellington 6011
[FYI request #32629 email]
PO Box 10420, Wellington 6140
[email address]
25 November 2025
Our Ref: OIAD-5783
Tēnā koe Isaak
We note your request to Land Information New Zealand (LINZ), which was transferred in full to
the Department of Conservation on 28 October 2025, in which you asked for:
“..the release of the maps referenced in the Earnslaw Conservation Resources Report but
not displayed. Additionally, I am looking for the existence of marginal strips in and
surrounding Earnslaw Station. “
We have considered your request under the Official Information Act 1982 (the OIA).
Before proceeding to the Department’s response, we have provided some relevant contextual
information.
Earnslaw Pastoral Lease - Conservation Resources Report (Report)
While the Report is published on the LINZ website, it is actually a report collated and owned by
the Department. This is why LINZ transferred your request to the Department.
As part of a tenure review programme (led by LINZ), Earnslaw Pastoral Lease (PL) was first
inspected by Departmental specialists for tenure review purposes in February 2002. Later, in
December 2010, two days were spent on the property to assist with updating the initial draft of
the Report.
The map references in the body of the Report are as follows:
Map 4.2.1 (para 2.8.2) - "
shows where marginal strips and legal roads exist on the PL"
Map 4.2.2 (para 2.1, para 2.1.2) - "
Earnslaw Station is broken into four landscape units.."
Map 4.2.3 (para 2.3.1, para 2.5.1) -
"A map depicting LENZ Units for the PL.." and
"outlines the significant inherent ecological values on Earnslaw Pastoral Lease"
Map 4.2.4 (para 2.8.3) - "
Significant recreational routes are shown.."
With respect to the acronyms used in the Report’s extracts above, ‘PL’ is Pastoral Lease, while
‘LENZ’ stands for Land Environments of New Zealand.
Marginal strips
These are usually areas reserved from the disposal of land by the Crown which adjoin the sea,
lakes or rivers and have minimum size or width specifications.
Marginal strips are held for conservation purposes and particularly for maintenance of the
adjacent waters, water quality, aquatic life and for protection of the natural values of the strip
and its natural values.
They are also held to enable public access to the waters and public recreational use of the
strips and adjacent waters.
See Part IVA, sections 24 to 24L of the Conservation Act 1987 for more detail.
Department’s response
Maps – Earnslaw PL
It is unclear why the maps did not still form part of the copy of the Report (or set of documents)
that was published on LINZ’s website regarding Earnslaw PL.
Three of the maps referred to in the body of the Report have been located:
Map 4.2.1 (marginal strips);
Map 4.2.2 (landscape units); and
Map 4.2.4 (recreational routes).
With respect to Map 4.2.3 (LENZ Units), we instead provide links to a portal showing the
LENZ data for the country, which would have been the source for what this map would have
depicted:
LCDB Map https://lris.scinfo.org.nz/layer/123148-lcdb-v60-land-cover-database-version-
60-mainland-new-zealand/
LENZ Threatened Environments Classification 2012 | LRIS Portal |
I have decided to release the documents listed, as Items 01 to 04, in the attached Document
schedule. Please note that Map 4.2.4 is now referred to as Map 4.2.3 and is Item 04.
You are entitled to seek an investigation and review of my decision by writing to an
Ombudsman as provided by section 28(3) of the OIA.
Marginal strips – Earnslaw PL
Map 4.2.1 indicates where marginal strips exist on the Earnslaw PL. Please note that anyone
wishing to access Earnslaw PL land, or travel over it to reach other land, must have the
permission of the leaseholder before doing so.
The Earnslaw Station homestead is situated off the Glenorchy-Paradise Road between the two
parcels/blocks which make up the Earnslaw PL, on adjoining freehold land. As this piece of land
is privately owned, permission from the landowner would be required before accessing it.
For completeness, a public source for information concerning marginal strips is the website for
the Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa Walking Access Commissioner. It is a good, easy place for the
public to check and understand public access opportunities (see Outdoor Access Map (Beta)).
The underlying information is pulled from Landonline (LINZ) and the National Property and Land
Information System (NaPALIS)(LINZ and the Department).
We also include a link to the Department’s website about the Earnslaw Burn Track: Glenorchy
area, Otago region | https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-
go/otago/places/glenorchy-area/things-to-do/earnslaw-burn-track/. This provides information
2
about the start of the track, where camping is allowed, and the types of hazards likely to be
encountered. (The directions for
Getting there include the term ‘true left’ which refers to the side
of a river/waterway when one is facing downstream.)
Please note that this letter (with your personal details removed) and attached document(s) may
be published on the Department’s website.
Nāku noa, nā
Dr. Huia Forbes
Director, Treaty Negotiations and Land
Department of Conservation |
Te Papa Atawhai
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Document schedule
Item
Date
Document description
Decision
01
May 2012
Conservation Resources Report on Tenure
Released in full
Review of Earnslaw Pastoral Lease
02
Map 4.2.1
Released in full
03
Map 4.2.2
Released in full
04
Map 4.2.3
Released in full
4
