Proposed Changes to Stock Exclusion Rules
Proposed Changes to Stock Exclusion Rules
Thursday 24 July, 2025
The Resource Management (Stock Exclusion) Regulations 2020 (Regulations) prohibit cattle, pigs and deer from accessing wetlands, lakes and rivers in certain circumstances. Last year, the Government made amendments to the Regulations through the Resource Management (Freshwater and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2024, removing mapping of low-slope land and simplifying rules for intensive winter grazing. Fast forward to 2025 and the Government is proposing a further targeted amendment to the Regulations as part of Package 2 of the national direction reform under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). The proposed amendment seeks to strike a balance between compliance costs to the primary sector and environmental benefits promoted by the Regulations.
Proposal
The Government is proposing to amend Regulation 17 so that non-intensively grazed beef cattle and deer can access natural wetlands.
Regulation 17 currently requires all stock to be excluded from natural wetlands supporting a population of threatened species, regardless of the size of the wetland or the intensity of the farming system. Regulation 17 has applied to all stock in new pastoral systems since 3 September 2020 and to all other stock since 1 July 2025. Experience to date has confirmed that Regulation 17 is rigid and unable to be adapted to individual circumstances. The Government considers that, in some areas such as the South Island high country and along the West Coast, the compliance costs for the primary sector exceed the environmental benefits envisaged by Regulation 17.
Implications
There is a lack of data regarding the number, location and size of wetlands that are impacted by the Regulations. This makes it difficult to compare the actual costs and benefits of Regulation 17 in its current state with the predicted costs and benefits of the proposed amendment.
Although the amendment could potentially have an environmental impact by reintroducing some stock to wetlands, the Regulations are a minimum requirement; councils have always had, and will retain, the power to impose more stringent plan rules to protect wetlands.
The Government proposes that the amendment to Regulation 17 would have immediate effect country-wide. The principal role for managing and enforcing any amendments to the Regulations falls to regional councils (and unitary authorities) under section 30 of the RMA. If the amendment is made to Regulation 17, the Ministry for the Environment will issue revised guidance documents and advisory notes to support councils and landowners implement the change.
Stay tuned for our next article in our series on Government’s national direction reform which looks at the proposals within Package 3 – Freshwater.
Consultation on the changes proposed within Package 2 close on 27 July 2025. If you have any questions on the Government’s proposal to amend the Resource Management (Stock Exclusion) Regulations 2020 or would like assistance with making a submission on the proposal, please contact one of our team below.
Our thanks to Law Clerk Lauren Aplin for her contribution to this article.
