Group claims bulldozers killed Okarito kiwis

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34133, 21 April 1976, Page 2

Group claims bulldozers killed Okarito kiwis

(By

KEN COATES)

Two kiwis have been killed by bulldozers working on a new logging road in the Okarito State Forest, the Native Forests Action Council says. I After a visit to the area during Easter by 240 conservationists from all over New Zealand, a spokesman, Miss A. Wheeler, said yesterday: “The killing of these rare birds is a foretaste of the ecological blunders that will accompany ‘widespread logging of the forests.” Asked about the allegation, the Forest Service’s principal forester at Hokitika, Mr Peter Allan, said yesterday, “I have heard only rumours. I have also heard of a fake photograph of dead kiwis.” He confirmed the existence of kiwis in the area, and said that they were also in the lanthe State Forest,

which had been selectively logged for some years. “They seem to be intelligent enough to get out of the way of logging and I have never heard of any kiwis there being destroyed; they are still in the area.” Hush-up claim Miss Wheeler said that two kiwis were caught by the blade of a bulldozer working in dense undergrowth near a ridge, the site of a kiwi colony. She also maintained that efforts had been made to hush-up the incident, and said that the birds had been quickly buried. “The killing of the kiwis highlights the shortcomings of research in the area,” Miss Wheeler said. “A recent Wildlife Service survey did not include looking for kiwis, and it was carried out during - the day.” Miss Wheeler said she had not seen the dead kiwis, but

learned of the incident from local people. Professor G. A. Knox, the head of the zoology department of the University of Canterbury, said that kiwis were nocturnal birds that nested in burrows. Although he had no knowledge of the alleged killing, kiwis could conceivably be destroyed by a bulldozer working in a nesting area. They were not necessarily sluggish during the day. Plant survey s Conservationists travelled in buses to Okarito, and at one stage a number of local residents appeared on the road carrying placards reading, "Logging For Ever.” Miss Wheeler said the buses had not been stopped, and as there had been an extra policeman brought into Whataroa, the placard-car-riers had quickly disappeared. The Native Forests Action Council re-affirmed the need to extend national park status to the Waikukupa and Okarito forests at its annual meeting. It saw benefits from more tourists visiting the area. “We are dismayed logging is to begin close to Okarito Lagoon and that further logging may soon start in an adjacent area which should be added to Westland National Park,” Miss Wheeler added. She expressed impatience with the Forest Service about making public its regional management plan, and emphasised the need for botanical and wildlife surveys in the light of the over-all logging proposals. Mr Allan said the service was “flat out” on the plan, which he hoped would be available in the next three months. The aim was to highlight where gaps in the Forest Service knowledge of implications lay, and to come up with means of filling these.

“In the meantime we. cannot just close up shop and stop all logging in South Westland,” he said. During the week-end, conservationists also talked to members of the Westland National Park Board and local residents about the economic future of the region. Miss Wheeler said a number of timber industry workers also had farms, and Whataroa was not entirely dependent on timber. Franz Josef residents had strong views on preserving the untouched forest wilderness. The next step in the Forests Action Council campaign is placing submissions before the National Parks Authority seeking national park status for a large area of forest south of the Okarito River.