6. Conservation Department—Ranger Numbers and FundingJAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green) to the Minister of ConservationConservation Department—Ranger Numbers and Funding6. JAMES SHAW (Co-Leader—Green) to the Minister of Conservation: How many full-time rangers does the Department of Conservation employ at present and how does this compare with the number in June 2015?Hon NICKY WAGNER (Acting Minister of Conservation): As of 30 June this year the Department of Conservation (DOC) had 788 rangers of a total number of 1928 employees. This compares with 833 at the same point last year and a total number of 1942 employees. Numbers tend to fluctuate due to normal turnover and these changes are within the margin of error.James Shaw: How can the Minister claim that the Department of Conservation can adequately protect the spaces and species that New Zealanders love when it employs only one ranger for every 16380 rugby fields' worth of conservation land?Hon NICKY WAGNER: That is really a bit of a debatable point. Our concern for biodiversity and threatened species is why there is more conservation work being done in New Zealand now than at any other time of our history. It is also why we are introducing Predator Free 2050—because managing predators is our biggest challenge. Being predator free is an ambitious world-leading project and it will certainly rid our country of possums rats and stoats which threaten our native animals and also our economy.James Shaw: Why in a time of increasing numbers of visitors to our national parks and increasing threats to our native animals has her Government cut the Department of Conservation's budget by an average of $55 million per year for the last 7 years?Hon NICKY WAGNER: Vote Conservation has not been cut; it has increased from $416 million in 2008-09 to an expected total of $451 million in 2016-17. On top of that there has been a further $80 million worth of partnership work over the last 5 years. There is more conservation work being done in New Zealand now than at any other time in our history. DOC has more work programmes: across ecosystems about 500; and against threatened species about 300. That is more than ever before.James Shaw: How will corporate sponsorship replace her Government's funding cuts to the Department of Conservation when corporate sponsorship currently accounts for only 2 percent of DOC's overall budget?Hon NICKY WAGNER: Corporate sponsorship will not. It only supplements the $451 million in Vote Conservation. Our partnerships enable us to engage more New Zealanders in conservation. They allow us to do extra work than what we already do and make our resources go further. They encourage all New Zealanders to take ownership of our natural world and its protection and in this Conservation Week I encourage all New Zealanders to get out into the conservation estate.James Shaw: How can the Minister claim that the Department of Conservation is adequately funded when it has only $5 for every quarter-acre section of conservation land to look after per year?Hon NICKY WAGNER: I repeat: Vote Conservation is $451 million in the 2016-17 year. On top of that there is $80 million worth of partnership work. There is more conservation work being done in New Zealand than at any other time in our history. DOC is focused on results and we are working with more ecosystems and more threatened species than ever before.James Shaw: If there were 833 rangers last year and 788 rangers this year can the Minister confirm that at this rate of decline by Christmas 2025 DOC rangers will be extinct?Hon NICKY WAGNER: No.