The Dominion’s Forests

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22804, 1 September 1939, Page 10

The Dominion’s Forests

The annual report of the State Forest Service, this year; is given exceptional value tfy an introductory argument of general questions of forest policy.' Recording the progress of the service under his predecessor, Mr A. D. McGavock, the new director, Mr A. R. Entrican. shows that in eight years the area of permanent State forest rose ' from 2,126,837 to 4,784,419 acres, the total area under service control from 7,761,166 to 8,354,861 acres, and the total cut of rough-sawn timber from State forests from 24.0 to 36.2 per cent, of the' Dominion cut/These are figures which serve to illustrate thie need to be sure that ‘policy is grounded on *right principles and - thoroughly executed. The estate is too valuable' to permit- easy views or short views of its management. But the figures above are only an imperfect, if useful, illustration. Forestry policy neither begins nor ends, in any single or simple conception of forest areas as‘sources of timber supply, or as protective factors in >climate or land use, or as scenic and recreational resources. . Mr Entrican’s argument strongly and successfully maintains that the conception upon which forestry policy-must be founded is that of “ multiple use.” i

Only by putting the non-agriculturai, or forest lands to a multiplicity of uses can forestry be made of the greatest pqssible service to the community. Seldom is "it possible to put individual forests to the entire range of uses. Often some uses conflict, but it is rare that a number cannot be harmonised and forests managed for the development of numer* ous social and economic values, provided, oi course, that the fatal error of multiplicity of authorities over the same area is avoided.

This view is energetically’presented, add comprehensively; from the maintenance and /development of timber supply, to the control of land erosion and thbi flourishing preservation of picturesque and - historic • bush, nothing relevant" is omitted. But two points may be selected for particular attention. The report discloses nothing new in its references (accompanied by excellent photographs) to the appalling waste, and to consequences even worse than waste, of bad cutting and milling practice; what is new, rt least in thorough-going application, is -the ; reform advocated. This is nothing les£ than the general'adoption, in New Zealand forests, of the technique of selective logging, at (say) 30-year intervals, with continuous care pf what are thus intended to be permanent stands. “Timber cropping . ; . for “ timberminingthat • is;.the epigrammatic summary of this policy which is, of course, the .traditional and proved one of the great European forests- and of others, but nothin fully comparable conditions. The advantages of success, if success is possible, are obvious. 'Mr Entrican mentions two difficulties in the way. He recognises that “ authorities who cannot be "ignored” regard, the indigenous forests as “ decadent ”. in respect to the timber-producing species. The policy he favours must, therefore be-regarded . as an experiment in the arrest of a natural process. : He recognises, also, that, if prevailing post standards are applied, this logging technique must at first ’be more expensive: but, he argues, “any immediate sacrifice will “ ultimately; be repaid manifold.” It is obvious that the experiment could produce final evidence ’of its success only over a long period, measured not in years but in generations; some evidence,- merely suggestive but favourable, however; already exists. But on the question of present costs and periodic returns evidence /to check *Mr Entrican’s hopeful estimate Would more rapidly accumulate. For the second point, it may be. noted that Mr Entrican advocates the development of'exotic plantations, partly to protect the Dominion against the pos-

sible doom of the indigenous commercial stands, partly because the indigenous stands have long ceased to grow “ more wood than “ the‘country requires”; but he thinks it “ not “ impossible that the exotic forest capital resource now being established will yield a sur- “ plus over the country’s demands, even allow- “ ing that the supplies of virgin indigenous “ timber will be rigidly economised.” This leads, necessarily, to the related questions of economic use and of research. If they are not taken up in time, the penalty will be paid in waste. The new Director of Forestry has given 1 the Government something to think about; and it may be hoped that it will think in earnest.