Regional Data Sources

This catalogue documents datasets that represent protected areas managed at the regional level, typically by local government. By cataloguing these datasets, PAN-NZ aims to improve the visibility of locally administered protected areas, support integration into national datasets, and provide a clearer understanding of the various legal and administrative mechanisms used to protect land at the local level.

If you are a data holder and your regional protected area dataset is not yet included, we encourage you to contribute by following the instructions via the Contribute / Contact page.

Protection Types

In the below data catalogue (see table below), each dataset is categorised as per the below protection types.

1. Parks and Reserves

These datasets typically represent land set aside for conservation, recreation and amenity purposes, and may include:

• Reserves gazetted under the Reserves Act 1977
• Regional parks established under section 139 of the Local Government Act 2002
• Local purpose reserves managed by councils
• Other open space identified through district plans or long-term planning instruments

2. SNA Data Sources

This catalogue documents datasets relating to Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) as identified under Section 6(c) of the Resource Management Act 1991, which requires all territorial authorities to map and protect areas of significant indigenous vegetation and significant habitats of indigenous fauna as a matter of national importance.

While PAN-NZ is gathering protected area data sources more broadly, we are recording known SNA datasets for visibility and coordination purposes. However, we are not currently prioritising their inclusion in the national PAN-NZ protected areas layer. This is due to ongoing ambiguity resulting from recent RMA legislative changes and the expectation of further updates to New Zealand’s resource management system.

3. Other Regional Protected Area Types

Previous PAN-NZ reports have noted that local government may hold datasets relating to local government covenants or other protected areas that do not fall under typical categories such as parks, reserves, or SNAs.

We are interested in identifying and cataloguing any such datasets. If your organisation holds spatial data for protected areas created through other mechanisms, please get in touch.

Known Issues with Local Government Datasets

Dataset Intent

We acknowledge that some local government datasets were not developed with the intent of representing legally protected areas. For example, the Auckland Council Park Extents dataset states that its polygons reflect maintenance areas rather than legal boundaries, and that it does not indicate whether land is formally gazetted or protected under legislation such as the Reserves Act 1977 or the Local Government Act 2002.

Despite these limitations, PAN-NZ may include such datasets where they provide the only available spatial representation of regionally or nationally significant areas. For example, this is the case with the Auckland Park Extents dataset, which currently serves as the only spatial representation of Auckland’s regional parks we are aware of.

That said, we encourage administering bodies to enhance their existing parks and reserves datasets by including information about the legal protection status of each site. Adding relevant legislative and administrative details, such as the act and section under which an area is protected. This greatly improves PAN-NZ’s ability to accurately classify and integrate local data into the national protected areas layer.

Lack of Legal Information

Many local government parks and reserves datasets lack explicit information about the legislation under which areas are protected. This lack of legal context makes it difficult to categorise protections using recognised frameworks such as the IUCN protected area categories.

Despite this, these datasets are still highly valuable. Most include spatial boundaries and the names of protected areas, which are essential for mapping and national completeness. PAN-NZ will include these areas in the national layer, even if their legal basis is unclear. However, in such cases, we will not assign an IUCN category.

Where possible, PAN-NZ may attempt to infer legislative context by cross-referencing central government records and gazette notices. That said, this approach is less reliable and not preferred, as it relies on secondary interpretation rather than authoritative information from the administering body.

Regional Data Sources

The table below is the regional dataset catalogue. It includes the datasets we are currently aware of, along with their known status. Some entries are placeholders where we expect data to exist but have not yet identified it. These gaps highlight areas where additional data is needed to support the creation of a complete national protected areas dataset.