Ministerial statements on forests awaken conservationists’ fears

Press, 10 February 1981, Page 17

Ministerial statements on forests awaken conservationists’ fears

The Minister of Finance (Mr Muldoon) and the Minister of Forests (Mr V. S. Young) caused a fluttering in the conservationst dovecots with their recent statements about protection of native timebr and the kokako in the Pureora State Forest, west of Lake Taupo. OLIVER RIDDELL looks at the controversy and what it means for other indigenous forests and bird habitats for which protection might be sought.

The Government has paid $5.1 million compensation to Pureora Saw* mills, Ltd, for the cancellation of -its long-term native timber contract in 1978, when the Government decided to reduce the supply of indigenous logs in state forests west of Lake Taupo. This brings the total. cost of compensation for reducing logging in the region to more than .$7 million. Another firm, Ellis and Burnand, had already been paid $1.96 million. All-in costs of conservation at Pureora have been high, according to the .Minister of Forests, Lands and the - Environment (Mr Venn Young). He says there have also been considerable social costs in terms' of lost jobs and the dislocation of small rural communities. Two conservationist groups reacted immediately to Mr Young’s remarks. The Native Foests Action Council claims that very- little of this money found its way into the hands of the dislocated individuals concerned and nearly all of it went to the two companies. The Environmental and Conservation Organisation claimed there was insufficient timber in Pureora forest to supply the milling contracts of the two mills in any case. These charges brought a sour response from the Forest Service. However, both the claims and the rebuttal were predictable and have not really disturbed the even tenor of relations between the Forest Service and the conservation groups. When the timber contracts wree cancelled in 1978, the Government also placed a three-year rriora - torium on logging in Pureora to permit a proper ‘ study of a. rare and endiangered bird — the blue-, wattled crow, or kokako — which, lives there.. A joint Wildlife Service-For-est Service study*

tially funded by the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, is now underway. An interim report was presented late in 1980, and although . the moratorium is due to end in August, it is expected to be extended until the final report is completed in December. Mr Young has threatened that: "In deciding what happens after the moratorium empires, the Government will obviously have to weigh the economic and social costs of this form of conservation against a policy of balanced use.” This implied threat caused the conservation groups to react more publicly and angrily than they might have done otherwise. Their fears were compounded when the Minister of Finance (Mr Muldoon) then weighed in with his own assertion that $7 million was a lot to pay to save the kokako. As Mr Muldoon may have calculated, a great deal of anxious thought is now being given to what he said and why he said it. There is no universally accepted answer, but one which has gained much support is 'that both Mr Muldoon and Mr Young were warning conservation groups not to expect .any public money to be available to protect the native

forests of South Westland — especially South Okarito and Waikukupa — the way Pureora was protected. . Westland sawmills, no» tably those at Whataroa and Harihari, have contracts to mill areas including spaces within these forests until 1990. The Forest Service is working on forest plans for the area which might reduce the amount of native timber milled; the conservation groups are opposed to milling and want the forests protected. The Forest Service has been the unhappy intermediary between the millers and West Coast interests and the ■ conservationists. Many West Coasters, including the millers, would like to see South Okarito and Waikukupa milled out, and replanted in exotics. The conservation groups do not want the forests touched. So far the Forest Service seems to prefer a compromise solution. This

would mean selective logging tb maintain the forests, on a 500-year cycle, sufficient to keep the mills going but at reduced production and with reduced employment opportunities in South Westland. Mr Muldoon and Mr Young appear to be swinging hard against reservation and protection of the two forests; against a cancellation of milling contracts, at the expense of the public purse.. The conservation groups feel they have been warned; that Mr Muldoon was annoyed that the solution at Pureora cost so much and is expressing his annoyance in a way that points to the future In their reaction to this, they in turn risk provoking an even stronger response from Mr Muldoon. After all, there, was no need for him to issue veiled threats; and-he may simply have been expressing his annoyance about a $7 million charge

to .the Government and not have intended to indicate anything more than that. The ■ Forest Service, local interests, and conservation groups will not have deserved very well of the country if they cannot come up with anything better than the options they now seem to be considering. Are the only options those of clearfelling South Okarito and Waikukupa and planting exotics, selective logging the native timber on a 500-year cycle at a much-reduced rate, or reserving them in perpetuity and closing down the Whataroa and Harihari sawmills? More flexible thinkers, within all three groups are working towards a solution which might satisfy all parties. What about reserving South Okarito and Waikukupa as suggested, but clearfelling other native forests which have already been partially miL led . and are now unattrac-

tive to conservationists? lanthe and Wanganui are two such forests. In spite of the best efforts of all concerned, partial milling has ruined both forests and their future is bleak. Also, are the West Coast interests economically sound in thinking they should shift to exotics in South Westland? Are the soils, terrain, and climate suitable for economic harvesting of exotics? Will transport costs not make them too expensive in competition with the vast supplies of exotic timber becoming available after 1990? All these points need to be studied. If South Okarito and Waikukupa ' could be reserved, perhaps by adding them to the Westland National Park, and other native timber sufficient to meet contract requirements be made available (even if by clearfelling elsewhere if need be), then that should satisfy the West Coast interests, the mills, the Forest Service, and the conservation groups.

It should also placate a Government alarmed about the prospect of paying millions of dollars more in forestry compensation, and stiffening itself to reject such a prospect.