FOREST FURY

Press, 29 August 1979, Page 21

FOREST FURY

1 stood in a quiet glade of Whirinaki Forest and watched a 400-year-old matai tree come down. The forest was made hideous by the whining of the chain saw. Then the cutter stood back and, with creaking and groaning, the tree fell slowly over. It took only five minutes and was an emotional moment. Afterwards, Ti Ruri, the gang’s chief cutter, put down the chain saw and stood in quiet satisfaction while the other members of his gang began to cut up the recumbent tree. And why not?

His family has lived in Whirinaki for hundreds of years. That matai was part of his heritage. It now provides food and housing for him, his family, his relations, his friends. It will go to the nearby Minginui mill where other members of the 500-strong Minginui community will benefit from it. But still, this tree was 400 years old. It was a seedling when Queen

Elizabeth I had only just ascended the English throne, when the power of the Inquisition dominated Spain, when the Ottoman Turkish Empire was at its zenith, when Russia still languished in the Dark Ages, before white men lived in the United States, and when China was only a shadowy legend. For all those long years, that 150 ft matai stood in Whirinaki. It grew bigger and more splendid, in the

dark green forest, with only the sounds of the tinkling stream, the trills of the birds, and the occasional steps of the barefooted hunter. Had something Important happened, or was it a trivial occurrence? Standing there in Whirinaki it was hard to tell. Ti Ruri was in no doubt. It was not important. Standing close by were rimu, totara matai, and miro. Some were to be cut, some were not. At that moment it was easy to understand the depths of feeling the logging of Whirinaki forest has aroused.

The hottest conservation issue of the day is the logging of Whirinaki State Forest, 60 kilometres south-east of Rotorua. Public meetings and angry confrontations have sign-posted the debate. At the invitation of the Forest Service, OLIVER RIDDELL spent a day at Whirinaki to background the issues involved. His first report follows; the second and final instalment will be published tomorrow-.