The Press TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1976. The Okarito Forest

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34085, 24 February 1976, Page 14

The Press TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1976. The Okarito Forest

The New Zealand Forest Sendee, having earlier fended off attacks on its proposals for taking timber from the South Island’s beech forests, has again roused the fears and complaints of those who want to protect what remains of the country's native forests. The senice has agreed to let millers take logs from part of the Okanto State Forest in South Westland. The conservationists are especially upset because the Okarito State Forest and the nearby Waikukupa State Forest border on the Westland National Park The park includes only small areas of lowland forest. The Okanto Forest also surrounds the Okarito Lagoon, the site of the country’s only white heron colony.

The critics of the Forest Service's plans say that the logging will upset the food supplies in the Okarito Lagoon on which the herons and other birds depend, and that it will destroy the forest’s aesthetic appeal and its value for recreation. The Forest Service remains confident that any dangers of this kind are being exaggerated. The part of the forest selected for logging will not be clear-felled but selectively felled, which means that only a proportion of the trees suitable for the sawmills will be removed. Areas near the lagoon and beside the streams flowing into it will not be touched at all. The Forest Service has secured reports from the Water and Soils Authority, the Acclimatisation Society, and Wildlife Service experts; and as a resul the foresters claim that the white heron colony i not threatened and that selective logging will no damage the appearance of the forest or its wortl for recreation. Timber has been felled selectively in South Westland for some time, but not as much is known about the long-term effects of the practice as needs to be known to evaluate its effects on forests like those around the Okarito Lagoon. The attraction of the forest could well be seriously impaired if loggers move periodically through it to remove the mature trees.

Even if the environmental damage were likely to be serious, the Forest Senices proposals might still be acceptable if compelling economic reasons were produced for taking timber from the Okarito State Forest. This would only be so if that forest were the only one in South Westland where timber for which there is a definite need could be secured, or if milling elsewhere were even more damaging. If this were so a ban on harvesting the forest would adversely affect the immediate interests of the communities in South Westland and, perhaps, make necessary the importing of high-quality timber for special purposes. The area’s long-term economic future is likely to be as dependent on tourism as on sawmilling and a cut-over forest, even if it has been felled selectively, is not attractive to sightseers and walkers. Furthermore, there are large areas of forest in South Westland which could be logged with less risk of affecting the area’s attractions.

The latest report to Parliament by the DirectorGeneral of Forests makes it clear that much of the high-quality timber produced from the country’s native forests is used wastefully. If the use of such timber were diverted, preferably by price, from uses for which timber of lower grades of exotic species is suitable, the demand for it would diminish and the need to sustain the production of timber from the country's native forests would be diminished. In the absence of any compelling need to use timber from a forest that might be included in a national park, and which is close to a rare and sensitive wildlife reserve, the Forest Service would be well advised to leave the Okarito State Forest alone. One possible alternative to milling there is the importing of timber; the need to resist imports is obvious today, but with any luck it will be temporary. If the fears of conservationists are to be allayed, or dismissed, the alternative courses must be made known and understood.