Mixed reaction to setting up of new Coast reserves

Press, 21 April 1979, Page 2

Mixed reaction to setting up of new Coast reserves

Greymouth reporter West Coast attitudes varied yesterday when it was announced by the Minister of Forests (Mr V. S. Young) that about 130,000 hectares of State forest land on the West Coast would be reserved but that the logging moratorium on the South Okarito forest had been lifted. The chairman of the West Coast branch of the Native Forests Action Council (Mr H. C. Hooper) said the lifting of the moratorium was “a tragedy.”

There was criticism from other sources that the West Coast United Council had not been consulted. “What is the use of having a United Council if it is not going to be consulted on the first big decision since it has been formed?” said the chairman of the Buller County Council (Mr W. J. Mumm). Other parties had received copies of the official report on which the Government made its decision, but the Buller County Council was still waiting for it, he said. “We have been completely ignored by the Government.”

The Buller County Council, the local authority concerned with much of the new reserve land, had been promised an early copy of the Officials’ Committee recommendations, but this had not yet arrived. The Forest Service chief

in Westport (Mr P. Borlase) said the Buller County’s copy of the recommendations had been on an Air New Zealand plane which broke down two days ago and then it was sent to Hokitika and had not yet arrived at Westport.

The chairman of the West Coast Regional Development Council (Mr D. J. Truman) said that, although he (like some other local body figures approached) had not yet seen the Officials’ Committee’s report, his initial reaction was that he believed that the West Coast had now made its contribution to the nation’s forest reserves. He hoped that commonsense would now prevail “and we can get on with the job of developing the region.” “It is a huge sacrifice in reserves and I hope the nation appreciates it,” he said.

Mr Hooper said that the setting aside of the Waikukupa State Forest as an addition to the Westland National Park was “gratifying, and in accord with our representations, but we cannot accept that the Western Paparoas should be logged, and the opening of the Southern Okarito forest to logging is nothing but tragic.”

‘‘l have seen no statement by the Minister of Forests justifying the choice of this area over other sites to mai itain log supplies,” he said.

“In allowing chain saws to rip out the finest trees of a virgin forest, the Minister shows no more appreciation of the unique scenic, ecological, and aesthetic qualities of this forest than he did at Pureora and Whiranaki.

“Conservationists have struggled hard to convince Coasters that they should accept their responsibilities as trustees of such unique forests as Okarito and now ask them to prove that they really do love the bush by demanding that Mr Young leave South Okarito untouched,” Mr ’looper said. The chairman of the Grey-

mouth Chamber of Commerce (Mr J. D. Huston) welcomed the release of logging areas to the timber industry. This would particularly help the Hokitika and Buller areas and “go a long way towards giving the business community an air of confidence.” Mr Huston said he favoured the creation of a number of small reserves with special significant interests, rather than a blanket reservation, a view which was supported by the chairman of the West Coast United Council (Mr C. H. McLellan). The chairman of West Coast Futures (Mr R. A. Ferguson) said that his organisation was likely to

have more comments when the “fine print” of the new announcement had been considered, but initially it seemed that from the Waikukupa State Forest north “the Coast has received a liberal dose of conservation.” West Coast Futures had called for a full resource survey to be made before reserves were set aside and it seemed from the timing of the announcement that this had not been done, particularly for North Westland. The secretary of the Westland Timber Workers’ Union (Mr R. F. Beadle) said that he was pleased with the decision to extend cutting rights to make a greater volume of timber available, particularly to the Ruatapu mill. “This may be considered a success for our long negotiations with the Government on timber on the West Coast. It must lift a lot or concern from the minds of those in the industry, however, the complex nature of the report needs to be looked at closely.”