Westland forests at risk, says institute

Press, 27 October 1981, Page 4

Westland forests at risk, says institute

PA Wellington The Government's decision to put South Okarito and Waikukupa forests in Westland National Park will g lead to social disruption and over-exploitation of other forests in the area, says the Institute of Foresters. The institute’s president. Mr John Rockell, said that the decision was made on political rather than on good forest-management grounds. The institute had long been worried over the high logging rates in South Westland, where the amount of native timber cut each year was

four times the amount replenished by growth. The decision suggested that the high cutting rate would continue for 10 years, Mr Rockell said. It would result, in a collapse of the region’s sawmilling industry at the end of that time. Valuable rimu resources would also be used rapidly and wastefully instead of being spun out for highquality products. Mr Rockell criticised the decision to establish a 10,000 hectare exotic forest in South Westland. This could be done only by

clear-felling native forest, which was precluded by the Government’s own indigenous forest policy. Mr Rockell said that the region should be managed with conservation in mind, not exploitation or largescale preservation. The cut of wood should be reduced to a sustainable level as soon as possible, this should be linked to better marketing and higher prices for beech and podocarps. The extra money would enable less-destructive logging techniques to be used, he said.