Fell cut-over forest only, suggests M.P.

Press, 6 May 1978, Page 23

Fell cut-over forest only, suggests M.P.

Conservationists might have to consider allowing trees to be felled in cutover areas of the central North Island so that virgin forests can be preserved , the member of Parliament for Hamilton East (Dr I. J. Shearer) has told members of the Native Forests Action Council. He said that although he did not favour a compromise, it might be better to mill damaged areas completely in order to retain virgin forests. In the meantime it was important that individuals and groups continued to fight for the preservation of native forests. It was also vital that New Zealanders realised that not much time was left to ensure that these forests remained untouched. Already about one person in every nine, more than 341,000 had signed the Maruia Declaration. Dr Shearer urged those at the meeting to support North Island conservationists in their bid to preserve native forests there by presenting sub» missions to the Minister of Forests (Mr V. S. Young) by the end of the month. The Forest Service had misread the situation at the Pureora forest: it had been a sad affair for the service’s public relations. It had had an opportunity to stop milling, especially in the Pikiariki-block area but had not done so.

Selective logging was continuing in the area and was still damaging the forest, Dr Shearer said.

One logger had told him that there was no point in going back to the area that had just been cut for another 300 years. Suggestions made at the Taupo conference had shown a clear conflict between the Wildlife Division and the Forest Service. Proposed logging areas had been included in areas which had also been designated as having outstanding wildlife value. Proposals have also been made to mill the large, unlogged Waihaha area, which had been “locked away” for half a century. If implemented, an election promise by the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Taiboys) and the Minister of Forests before the last general election would be broken, Dr Shearer said.

The effect of milling an birds such as the rare kokako had to be considered, too. Sixty-one different bird species had become extinct since man had settled in New Zealand and he sincerely hoped that the kokako would not be the next. In some areas it had been shown that this bird’s chances of survival declined as much as 50 per cent in cut-over areas. Dr Shearer said it was time that New Zealanders thought hard about what they were prepared to accept, particularly on selective logging. Strict guidelines should be set before any area was logged and it was time that a stop was put to using native timber for “bits and pieces.”

Untreated kahikatea had been exported to an Aus-

tralian toy manufacturer so that Australian children could “safely gnaw away at our native timber.”

Dr Shearer urged the removal of price controls so that a true value for native timber could be established. “We should not be able to buy a rimu table at the price of a formica table,” he said. A way also had to be found to retain native forests on private land. One solution would be to get away from the tremendous incentive given to Maori land-owners to mill trees. Dr Shearer criticised the inefficiency of mills, tvhich wasted much native. It had not cost mill owners “a bean” to plant trees. They often just harvested them. “They could afford to waste them and have wasted them,” said Dr Shearer. Although a compromise had to be found on jobs for those naw milling native trees, it was getting to the point where there would soon be no native lowland forests left and consequently no work for millers anyway. In Auckland, about 300 persons attended a meeting to hear the future of the West Taupa native forests discussed, reports the Press Association. The main speakers at the meeting, organised by the Native Forests Action Council and the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, were the council’s research director (Mr G. Salmon) and the Auckland Conservator of Forests (Mr G. J. Malloy).