FOREST APPEAL IN THE SNOW

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33887, 5 July 1975, Page 16

FOREST APPEAL IN THE SNOW

Campers braved snow and cold in the heart of the Southern Alps last night to sign a petition that called for the preservation of New Zealand’s native forests.

On the banks of the Maruia River, the Native Forest Action Council started its national campaign to protect the forests with a ceremony in which conservationists signed the Maruia Declaration. The declaration is a petition which has called for New Zealand’s native forests to be legally protected and for publicly-owned indigenous forests to be taken out of the hands of the Forest Service and controlled by an organisation with a clear responsibility to protect the forests. Sawmilling of virgin forests should be stopped by 1978, except in Westland where the region’s economy still depended on logging of native forests, the petitior said. The petition also suggested that commercial pressure on native forests be reduced by planting exotic and native timbers on land which was not already forested. “It is prudent to be conservative in our consumption and export of those forest products, especially newsprint and packaging paper, which make heavy demands on our precious resources of

land, energy and water,” the petition stated. Warmed by a ceremonial bonfire the 50 delegates signed the declaration at 9 p.m. in an area of red beech which the Forest Service has designated for pulping. Some of the delegates are staying in tents, but others are staying at hotels at Springs Junction and Maruia Springs. The Native Forest Action Council is a federation of forest action committees and environmental societies which replaces the Beech Forest Action Committee.