Temporary lull at Whirinaki

Press, 28 November 1979, Page 21

Temporary lull at Whirinaki

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

The lull in the heated debate over reserving or milling sections of Whirinaki State Forest, southeast of Rotorua, is only a temporary one. The debate may be expected to resume at the same heat within a few weeks. These dense lowland podocarp forests are among the last remnants of their kind. Their milling to sustain the mill at Minginui has created a storm of controversy. Particularly obnoxious to conservationists are the

decisions to mill the dense stands of Old Fort Road and Block 10, and to replant selectively-logged areas. A management plan published by the Forest Service some months ago drew strong protests from a number of quarters, including the Commission f - the Environment, which wanted planned milling of exotics brought forward so that milling of native timber in Whirinaki would have virtually ceased by 1984. But the real opposition

to the milling proposals has come from outside the Public Service. E.C.O. (Environmental and Conservation Organisation), a composite body embracing a number of. conservation groups, and N.F.A.C. (Native Forests Action Council) have been the most vocal. They want the dense stands of lowland podocarp forest included within expanded boundaries of the nearby Urewera National Park. A surprising feature of the whole furore has been the silence of the National

Parks Authority. While the fate of Whirinaki was being debated up and down the country, and the Minister of Forests (Mr V. S. Young) was being roundly condemned, the Authority seemed to have nothing to say. The main reason for its silence was its lack of detailed knowledge about Whirinaki, and the present lull is the result of the Authority’s plan to remedy that situation. Its staff are now in Whirinaki studying the matter. They are being helped by a re-

lated study of the wildlife in Whirinaki by staff of the Wildlife Service. Authority staff are not doing this work on their own; they are. in tandem with Forest Service staff. This co-operation has already disposed some conservationists to reject in advance the results of their studies. To these people, the Forest Service is the enemy. To deal with the enemy is treason in the war to conserve native forests. And. of course, the result of this joint National

Parks Authority-Forest Service investigation is bound to be a compromise. If the two departments were not prepared to do a deal with each other, they would hardly have agreed to undertake a joint study of Whirinaki. The most contentious areas of Whirinaki are somewhat remote from the boundaries of Urewera National Park. Any extension of the park boundaries to encompass them will inevitably include large tracts of bush of lesser interest. Further, Minginui village and saw’mill lie between Block 10 of the National Park. So serious thought will

have to be given on whether inclusion within the National Park Is the best way of protecting the prime areas of dense lowland podocarp forest. Perhaps status as a separate reserve would be more appropriate? It is a pitj’ the Authority could riot undertake the study on its own. If it had done so, and had recommended status as a separate reserve, this might have been acceptable to the conservationists. But if this is the recommendation of the joint study, then many opponents of the Forest Service will wonder if the recommendation is only an unsavoury compromise.