A large park proposed on the South Island’s West Coast could protect pristine rivers on public conservation land from hydro schemesA Wild Rivers park encompassing 5000 square kilometres of the West Coast has been proposed by the Federated Mountain Clubs. Wild Rivers park webpage Proposed Wild Rivers park highlighted in yellow. “It doesn’t make any sense to me.”Federated Mountain Clubs (FMC) president Jan Finlayson said much of the proposed wild rivers park is on stewardship land. A Wild Rivers parkWright thinks the proposal for a Wild Rivers park draws public attention to beautiful rivers that don’t have adequate legal protection because of the sluggish "debacle" of a reclassification process, but she thinks forming a park could be an uphill battle. Finlayson said the response to date for the Wild Rivers park proposal has been "enormously supportive".

Source: Stuff July 27, 2020 19:18 UTC