A $54 million cut in its budget for the next four years has left the Department of Conservation looking to reduce spending in lower-priority areas and avoid redundancies.
In the Budget this week, Finance Minister Bill English announced savings of $54 million over four years ($13.4 million) from conservation had been reallocated to areas such as health, education, and law and order.
Overall funding for Vote Conservation would be $419 million in 2009-10, down from $423 million in 2008-09.
Conservation Minister Tim Groser said like all government departments, Doc had to play its role in making every dollar count in difficult economic times.
"I am satisfied the department will meet its budget targets without putting key conservation work at risk."
Yesterday, a Doc spokesman said senior managers had factored this year's Budget figures into their business planning and were also working to reduce ongoing spending in lower-priority areas for the next three years.
"The exact details are still being worked through, but the department is looking at savings across its work programmes."
All steps would be taken to avoid redundancies, as the priority was to retain staff wherever possible, he said.
Much work had already been done in this area and the savings for the present year would be identified by the start of the new financial year.
The department remained committed to achieving its key conservation outcomes, he said.
