The Department of Conservation says its signs are increasingly becoming targets for vandals.
The department said it had 26,759 signs across Aotearoa and there were 902 signs flagged in the works system for replacement or repair in the South Island alone.
Recent incidents included the green and yellow signs being shot at, driven into, “keyed” so that information could not be read, or removed altogether.
That compared with a total of 1155 signs being replaced or repaired in the three-year period from July 2022 to now.
The department spent $350,523 on signage in the 2024/2025 financial year, and said next year’s budget had been increased to $587,248.
Asset inspector Charlie Barnett said he found at least two or three badly damaged signs while on his rounds each month.
“It’s really frustrating to see the needless destruction of DOC signage and infrastructure. It is also a safety concern, as people could be walking the tracks while signs are being shot at with projectiles travelling far beyond the eye.
“The signs riddled with bullet holes are usually out in the back country, while closer to town it’s mainly graffiti or being knocked over or driven into,” he said.
Barnett said it was “a huge amount of work to carry in new materials to replace or fix signs and they are often in remote locations”.
“Be the better person in nature. Save target practice for the range and leave the signs alone.”
Strategic asset manager Kushla Tapper agreed – saying it was “not just a vandalism issue”, but about public safety.
“Some signs lose their reflective quality when vandalised and that means they can’t be seen in poor weather conditions or the dark. This can be the difference between safety and significant harm for travellers. These signs contain essential information,” she said.
“We want the public to know that the time and costs we spend on repairing and replacing signs, could be better spent on doing other work to protect biodiversity or maintaining huts and tracks.
“We have a finite budget and are always trying to prioritise our work. We could maintain more visitor assets if we didn’t have to keep reassigning funds to fixing vandalism of essential signage.”
Members of the public who saw any damaged Department of Conservation signs were encouraged to record the location, take a photo if possible, and send the information to the local department office.
