Forest reserves

Press, 28 November 1979, Page 20

Forest reserves

Sir, — The original boundaries of the national parks tended to be drawn to exclude those areas thought likely to be wanted for exploitation. Since then the plight of our sinking ark with its disappearing species has become better appreciated. It is not only the campaign to protect the remaining lowland forest from further logging that seeks to rationalise the park boundaries or create new parks. The parks are administered “for the benefit and enjoyment of the public,” but their importance goes far beyond this. Peter Wardle (D.5.1.R.) puts it admirably when he says: “Their greatest value cannot be expressed in terms of importance to man, for it is the intrinsic value of sanctuaries where the web of physical and biological processes can continue as in the past, unrestricted by man and his technology; where organisms can survive until they have run their evolutionary course; where the erosion, natural in an evolving landscape, can be healed in nature’s own time.” — Yours, etc., ERIC BENNETT, Wellington. November 25, 1979.