An Empirical Study of Visitor Conflicts in New Zealand’s Southland Conservancy: The Case of Hunters and Trampers on Stewart Island

In the second semester of 2006, the Department of Conservation offered a Visitor Research Grant program that provided a full time post graduate student with a scholarship to conduct research on aspects of visitor use and recreation on public conservation land in Southland. Three topics were considered most relevant for the management of the area during the following year. This report focuses on the first topic “Is there visitor conflict between hunters and trampers?” The results presented in this report reflect the responses of trampers and hunters who visited Stewart Island during the summer of 2006/2007. It is expected that this document will further contribute to the drafting of the Management Plan for Rakiura National Park.