FOREST LAND TENURE

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22802, 30 August 1939, Page 10

FOREST LAND TENURE

POLICY FOLLOWED IN DOMINION EXPERIENCE OF OLDER COUNTRIES PREVENTING DETERIORATION OF SOIL (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.l • WELLINGTON, August 29. The general policy as to forestry in New Zealand is discussed in the annual report of the State Forest Service. Most importance in this; section of the report is attached to the tenure of forest land, and the report states that New Zealand’s-present forestry experience parallels that ;of many of the older countries of Europe. In those countries the report claims that it is significant that all of them have been compelled to exercise some measure of sovereignty over private forest lands—this “before deterioration reaches the stage which: is characterised first by, tax delinquency and finally by compelte; abandonment of derelict and useless land.” . Forestry in New Zealand .had arrived at a stage in its development when both the national problem and its* solution had J»ecome obscured- by a diversity of side issues and by failure to distinguish between objectives 'and methods of attack, said the report. “In its simplest terms the national-land-use problem was that, of so managing the entire land resource that its power to produce was : at least preserved in perpetuity arid augmented where possible. ■ This was a futtda-r----mental concept to which all social and economic principles must be made subservient. The contribution of forestry was twofold. ■ By keeping in a state of maximum productivity its own non-agricultural lands,' forestry, through the maintenance of climatic equilibrium, regulation of stream flow, and control of. erosion, preserved inviolate many factors on which agricultural lands depended for their prOduc-; tivity. ■" " Essence of Control . ’ . “Multiple-use management 1 on' such lines and the unification of control must be the essence of New Zealand forestry. ; Already it has been . typified in the managemerit of the kauri forests,’’ adds the report. “Timber-produc-tion is taken care of by the preservation and tending of young and advanced growth, and by the ordered cutting of dead and filing trees-, historic, scientific, and scenic interest by reservation of strips on, frequented -public, roads arid of individual trees or clumps, of extraordinary size, beauty, or distinction in whatever part of the forests they may occur;; and watershedprotection by • the- re-establishmenf of kauri on old cut-over forests. Silvicultural management and fire protection are assisting to achieve all these. It is real forestry—the perpetuation of kauri forest as a living, healthy,.productive, and reproductive? conunuriity. Can the alternative be seriously considered—the locking-up of the remaining kauri forest, without- timber yield, but with slow yet inevitable replacement of kauri by taraire and even more inferior species—rail in the sole interests of historic , and scenic.^values?, It is confidently r anticipated>that the pubf lie would regard’ such a proposal as untenable." - , v , , ‘fAt the same time the generaLpolicy of multiple-use is not rigidly pursued to the complete exclusion of singleuse forestry. The State Forest Service has for many years made substantial additions to and assisted- in the administration and protection of scenic .reserves and national .parks .originally sponsored and still mariaged -by the Department of-Lands and Survey. The feelirig of the public, that a, certain number of these single-use forests should be kept divorced from ; any ordinary forest areas on which other types of management may be imposed appears to be a very -real one,- doubtless a feeling of sanctity of purpose which might otherwise be violated; National Objective “Yet of its very simplicity, the national forestry objective -should stand forth unobscured and command the , support of every section of the 'community. By keening in a state of maximum productivity its non-agricultural lands, forestry through the maintenance of climatic equilibrium, regulation of , stream flow and control ofl 1 erosion, ' ■ preserves inviolate many factors on which agricultural lands depend lor their productivity.’ Is there any: one section of the community which: will not be benefited thereby?. Not one. Is there a single individual? In the, ultimate, analysis there is not one. , . ’ “It is a simple objective—the maintenance of all non-agricultural or for- ; estry lands in a state of maximum productivity. Productivity is employed, of course, in its widest: serise to connote the fullest development of all uses and values reviewed as typical of single-use forestry. Add to this the not inconsiderable social and ,cultural benefits which accrue to any community with a well-balanced - agricultural, forestry, and industrial econoiny, and the objective is one which should command the support of the whole country,.. , .'• • . ■ • “Realities of Forestry"

“If the national problem is easily defined, its solution is no less an involved and difficult one.

In its initial phase all- forest (or honagricultural) lands are not under public ownership or even under a public tenure which permits of adequate management by the State. State forests have since the inception of.the service increased from 4,959,674 acres to 8,354,861 acres. With the aid of the Department of Lands and Survey, they will continue to increase. As rapidly as the administrative machinery allows, areas are demarcated, forest lands proclaimed as State forests, and farming lands as settlement areas, but there is, in addition, at least another 7,500,000 acres of forested or forest land requiring management. A great part of, this area is under freehold or equivalent tenure. “In this respect New Zealand experience parallels that of many of- the older forest-practising countries of Europe, and it is significant that t th,ere, either because of timber shortages or of excessive erosion and .flooding at some stage in their history, one-'ana all have been compelled; to. exercise some measure of sovereignty over private forest lands before deterioration reaches the stage which is characterised first by tax delinquency, and finally by complete abandonment of derelict and useless land.” "