Conservation Act 1987

20 Wilderness areas

• (1) Subject to subsections (2) to (4), the following provisions apply to every wilderness area:

  • (a) its indigenous natural resources shall be preserved:

  • (b) no building or machinery shall be erected on it:

  • (c) no building, machinery, or apparatus shall be constructed or maintained on it:

  • (d) no livestock, vehicles, or motorised vessels (including hovercraft and jet boats) shall be allowed to be taken into or used in it and no helicopter or other motorised aircraft shall land or take off or hover for the purpose of embarking or disembarking passengers or goods in it:

  • (e) no roads, tracks, or trails shall be constructed on it.

  (2) If—

  • (a) the doing of anything on a wilderness area is in conformity with the conservation management strategy or conservation management plan for the area; and

  • (b) the Minister is satisfied that its doing is desirable or necessary for the preservation of the area's indigenous natural resources,—

  the Minister may authorise it.

  (3) If satisfied that the undertaking of any scientific test or study in a wilderness area is necessary or desirable for the preservation of indigenous natural resources, the Minister may authorise it.

  (4) Nothing in subsection (1) prevents the doing of any thing for any person's protection, or because of some emergency involving any person's property.

  Section 20(1)(d): substituted, on 25 November 1994, by section 8(1) of the Conservation Amendment Act 1994 (1994 No 108).

  Section 20(2)(a): amended, on 10 April 1990, by section 14 of the Conservation Law Reform Act 1990 (1990 No 31).

  Section 20(3): substituted, on 25 November 1994, by section 8(2) of the Conservation Amendment Act 1994 (1994 No 108).