The
Department of Conservation (DOC) manages public conservation land throughout
New
Zealand in terms of section 6 of the
Conservation Act 1987. In brief, this requires DOC to manage the natural and
historic resources of the land; promote the benefits of conservation to present
and future generations; provide information about conservation; to foster
recreation on the land; and allow for its use for tourism.

Locally the
department's Tauranga Area Office manages approximately 60 000 hectares of
Conservation Park (known as the Kaimai-Mamaku Forest Park) which includes early
gold mining relics and former bush tramways associated with the logging and the
mining industries. The Department has recently developed the Kaimai Heritage
Plan which seeks to restore some of the relics and encourage involvement by the
local communities in the restoration and interpretation of their history in the
hills. It provides a unique opportunity for the Department to help bring alive
for New Zealanders an important, and often overlooked, part of our history as a
nation in a stunning natural setting.

The
purpose of this presentation is to:

display the endeavour and ingenuity of the early miners and
loggers, the relics of those industries and the dramatic environment in which
they worked;

identify the linkages between those early industries and
gold mining today; and

promote a co-operative approach to heritage and recreation
management involving all facets of the community.