Coast reserves still disputed

Press, 2 December 1978, Page 22

Coast reserves still disputed

Wellington reporter

The dispute over which areas, and how big, on the West Coast should be set aside as forest reserves continues to rumble between Government departments in Wellington. This is a row which has attracted deep interest among residents of the West Coast and conservationists throughout New Zealand. Now it has emerged that even within the department most involved, the Forest Service, opinion is divided. The conservators of forests in Westland and Nelson have both written to the Government’s inter-departmental Scientific Co-ordinating Committee complaining that the proposed reserves are too big. The basis of their criticism is that if the com-

mittee’s proposals are adopted, this will lead to unemployment and economic hardship. But the Committee has been bitterly criticised by conservationists for being too pro-Forest Service in its proposals for the West Coast. Both the chairman and secretary of the Committee come from the Forest Service. The Committee has also been criticised by one of the departments represented on it — the Wildlife Service — for not including in its reserve proposals many proposals from the Wildlife Service. This criticism from the two conservators was the last straw. The Committee, Forest Service representatives to the forefront, strongly affirmed its intention to fight for all the reserve areas it has proposed.