The future of the West Taupo forests

Press, 11 April 1978, Page 16

The future of the West Taupo forests

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

Should selective logging continue in the native forests west of Taupo and, if so, to what extent and under what conditions? These are the questions on which papers are being prepared by the parties involved in the recent seminar on the forests at Taupo. Their replies are due by the end of May. There is now widespread interest in the fate of these

forests because of the presence there of an endangered native bird, the kokako, or blue-wattled crow. The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society is mounting a national

campaign to raise money for research on this bird. The total area of forest under discussion is about 85,000 ha, of which about 7500 ha is exotic forest. Excluding the exotic forest, about two-thirds of the forest is zoned provisionally by the Forest Service for recreation, although much of this area is high country with no merchantable timber.

The Forest Service considers one-third will need to be modified to meet commitments for long-term supplies of native timber to two local sawmills entered into in the

past in accordance with the practices of those days. The contracts run out in 1983 and 1985. The Forest Service proposes to log selectively the remaining virgin merchantable forests outside the proposed reserves, and to do so by extracting on average about one-quarter of the volume from any particular area. Out of a total resource of about 2 million cubic metres of sawlog material, about 250,000 cubic metres will be extracted over a period of about 40 years. This volume falls short of the 307,000 cubic metres committed under contracts, and the contracts

are accordingly being renegotiated. These selectively logged areas will form buffer zones around the core reserves. Unfortunately, it is at least arguable that these moves will not guarantee the survival of the kokako. Evidence on the survival capacity of the bird in selectively logged forests is incomplete, but suggests they might not survive. Among considerations of kokako, the Wildlife Service suggested the establishment of a “biosphere reserve” in the remaining forests of the r—*--’ N-'-th Toland, including the West Taupo forests, t...jiacmg at least all areas

of outstanding wildlife value, surrounded by a sufficiently wide buffer zone. The Forest Service agreed that West Taupo was a potential site for a biosphere reserve. The Director-General of Forests (Mr M. J. Conway) said after the seminar that the Forest Service would have little difficulty in accommodating a biosphere reserve as had been suggested. Little in the preferred Forest Service option would preclude the West Taupo forests from assuming this function. Much more office work is needed to identify the exact area such a biosphere reserve would occupy, but the Wildlife Service considers it has done enough survey work to

enable such an identification to be made to preserve the kokako and other wildlife values in the area. The Wildlife Service told the seminar that the reserves proposed by the Forest Service were not enough, and that more space was needed. The campaign to save the kokako will not have much point if the bird’s habitat is inadequate for it to survive, and as it is almost the last of the wattled crow family, few now contest that it should be saved from extinction. As the Forest Service and Wildlife Service seem quite close to agreement on what should be done, the sooner full agreement can be reached the better.