West Coast forests

Press, 2 September 1977, Page 12

West Coast forests

Sir, — John Wilson’s recent article comparing the situation of the Californian redwoods with New Zealand’s West Coast bush may be well presented, but is woefully astray otherwise. The only points of comparison between America’s forest and New Zealand’s is that both grow on the western seaboard and both are being milled prodigally, but there the similarity ends. To set the record straight, therefore, we would like to endorse the summary by your correspondent, S. R. June ("The Press”, August 29). In spite of the West Coast sawmillers’ costly public relations campaign to plead hardship, this country is in the fortunate state of being able to abandon indigenous milling at once, without undue disruption of its economy. To preserve New Zealand’s lowland podocarp virgin forests, which are a priceless and enduring asset by world standards, we must stop their destruction today. Tomorrow is too late. — Yours, etc.. GORDON SPIERS. Co-ordinator, Friends of the Earth, (Canterbury). August 30. 1977. [John Wilson replies: "I was careful to say only that the problems on the West Coast and in Humboldt County, California, were similar. I regret that one er two sentences could have been read to suggest that I thought that the problems in the two places were of the same magnitude, although

anyone reading the article with knowledge of the situation on the Coast would have recognised, from the information I gave about Humboldt County, that they were not. I personally favour rapid curtailment of the milling of native timber on the Coast, but I do not think that those urging such a course can fairly disregard the economic impact, however overstated this impact may have been by the West Coast Sawmillers’ Association.”]