‘Expensive summer': Storm damage repairs to cost DOC millions

The Department of Conservation (DOC) is facing a multimillion-dollar repair bill after a turbulent summer of storms damaged nearly 50 sites across New Zealand.

The 2025/26 summer visitor season has officially wrapped up, but the true cost of the severe weather is only just emerging. 

Early estimates for repair and recovery costs are currently between $2.25 million and $3.2 million dollars. 

"It was an expensive summer," DOC Director of Heritage and Visitors, Catherine Wilson, told rova, saying that while the department worked hard to restore access, the scale of the impact was significant. 

“Across the country, 47 sites were affected, most during bad weather in January and February,” said Wilson. 

“It’s not just one place, nine out of DOC’s 10 regions reported impacts—a rarity compared to previous years where storms typically hit a single area,” she added. 

Widespread Damage to Iconic Tracks

The severe weather led to the cancellation of approximately 2,500 holiday bookings for DOC huts and campsites. While many sites have since reopened, some of New Zealand’s most beloved destinations were hit, including Cathedral Cove, Mount Manaia, and Karangahake Gorge.

So far, DOC has managed to reopen six campgrounds and three huts, while restoring access to 12 roads and more than 26 tracks.

Rethinking the future

Wilson suggested the "expensive summer" could be a sign of things to come. As climate change makes extreme weather events more frequent, the department is rethinking its long-term maintenance strategy.

"The reality is, in the long term, we won’t go back everywhere in the future," Wilson said. She added that for sites facing repeated, severe damage, DOC may eventually have to make the "call that we just have to step away".

Despite the weather woes, visitor numbers remained resilient, with 323,000 nights spent in huts and campsites—on par with last year. 

Wilson says visitors simply adapted by shifting their plans to regions less affected by storms, leading to massive growth in Taranaki (+96%), Wairarapa (+71%), and Wellington/Kāpiti (+35%).

“The numbers are similar to last year, but the difference is we are starting to see people just make different choices about where they go because of the bad weather, so some less-visited places saw quite a big jump”, explained Wilson.

Article Image: DOC Ranger inspects the storm damage at Pirongia Forest Park. Pic by Yugdeep Thapa, DOC.