What is CORUF?
The CENTRAL OTAGO RECREATIONAL USERS FORUM, CORUF is an organisation set up to deal between the recreationalists - the general public - who spend their private recreation time on public Conservation Lands, and the managers of that Conservation land.
It also deals with public lands administered by the District Council, Crown Lands administered by Land Information New Zealand, and access to and from those lands.
It allows for a two-way communication between the land managers who have responsibility for the land and to the public: and the recreating public who otherwise have neither formal representation nor an over-arching organisation to appeal to.
Through an elected committee chosen out of the membership, the public recreationalists can now talk with the Department of Conservation, the Central Otago District Council and adjoining Councils, and Land Information New Zealand, to put forward their concerns and interests.
The organisation is a "first" in New Zealand and was the initiative of the Department of Conservation's Central Otago Area Office in 2003, the concept was taken up with enthusiasm by the locals who use the public lands for their leisure.
CORUF doesn't represent urban public land such as sports parks, nor does it represent commercial interests who, through the Concessions process, have their own formal communication channels to public land managers.
Some Things We have Done explains the issues CORUF has got caught up in in a 12 month period.
The Charter explains how we are set up, and the limits and strengths of our area of operation.
The FORUM is a public meeting held twice yearly on an issue of significance, with speakers and discussion. Autumn and Spring were chosen as the two seasons when recreationalists might be most "at home" to addressing issues for the coming seasons.
