Conservationists in agreement?

Press, 17 November 1981, Page 21

Conservationists in agreement?

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

With the decision of the national council of the Royal Forest and -Bird Protection Society to support in principle a merger between the society and the Native Forests Action Council, the final merger does not now seem to be much more than a formality.

When formally approved by the action council in December, the end of about 18 turbulent months for both organisations should be at hand.

This was the second meeting of the society's national council to consider the merger. At its June meeting, the society supported the merger in principle, but rejected the terms proposed then, and instructed its leadership to negotiate new terms.

It is these new terms which the society has supported, but which the action council has not yet finally agreed to. There is not expected to be much doubt left.

The new terms were circulated to society members several weeks ago. Only the date of the merger has been changed in that document; it is now likely to be February next year.

The society's national council meeting was held “in committee” so only the text of the resolution and voting is known. The national councillors voted 27-15 in favour, with the entire national executive also supporting it and raising the vote to 39-15.

It was clear that some of the opposition from the June meeting, while still having grave doubts about financial and staffing matters, had either been worn down or had decided not to stand in way of “progress.”

The merger organisation will continue to be known as the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society. Under special terms, those action council members not already members of the society will become members of the society, and their 5000-plus organisation will disappear into the 34,000-plus society.

The most significant aspect of the merger is the changes it will make to the society’s staft. The merger will enable Mr Guv Salmon of the action council to become director of conserva-

tion of the enlarged society, and with him will come the young activists who have helped make the action council such a leading force in the conservation movement.

His appointment will bring mixed reactions from society members. The bulk of the membership of the society is largely inactive and reasonably conservative on conservation issues.

Although the society has an active and forceful national executive, whose members have ardently sought to attract Mr Salmon into the society for the last 18 months, they are not typical of the society's membership.

Mr Salmon comes in at a time when the administration of the society is creaking badly, from having far too much work to be done by too few people. His arrival will probably cause further staff upheavals in the administration, with further strain on the administration.

The task of physically holding the enlarged society together will be a difficult and demanding one.

Because Mr Salmon has some opponents within the society, his appointment is bound to lead to some resignations from it. However, the needs of conservation and also the inertia of most of the membership should keep the society largely intact to start with.

His actions as director of conservation and the reaction of the membership to them will provide a truer long-term test of the success of the merger.

Both Mr Salmon and the society are in for a very trying two years until everything shakes down. Also, by the end of that time, the argument will be solved whether the conservation movement was better served by having two co-operating organisations than one merged one, and whether the conservation movement needs a small radical group and has by the end of 1983 thrown up a new one to fill the place vacated by the action council.

Both these arguments were used by opponents of the merger, but in the end did not influence the society’s national council.