Minister asked to cool Lewis Pass conflict

Press, 30 August 1979, Page 10

Minister asked to cool Lewis Pass conflict

Wellington reporter The Minister of Forests (Mr V. S. Young) has been asked to do everything in his power to mitigate the conflict that has developed over land use proposals for the Lewis Pass region. This plea has come from Action for Environment, a Wellington-based conservation group, which has also asked him to see the merits of including some of New Zealand's finest beech forests and other scenic and recreational assets in a new national park. The conservationists believed that the Victoria Range should be excluded from forest park proposals made by the Forest Service.

Adding the Victoria Range to a national park centred on Springs Junction should be considered. The Upper Grey Valley and Lake Christabel

should also be given national park status, th* group said.

Had the Forest Service produced any cost-benefit study of logging in montane beech forests, such as those of the Maruia Valley, asked the cretary of Action for Environment (Mrs H. Rainforth). Such a cost-benefit study should include the cost of extra reading, the extra cost of using logging techniques that would ensure regeneration, the cost of ancillary services provided by the Forest Service, and the cost of extracting and using the “chipwood” resulting from the logging, including the power and transport costs involved. She said it seemed most unlikely that, taking all costs into account, the logging of beech in such montane valleys could be considered profitable.