Logging trials set in contested area

Press, 9 December 1983, Page 20

Logging trials set in contested area

By

GARRY ARTHUR

When the Government made the surprise announcement in September, 1981, that South Okarito and Waikukupa forests were to be added to Westland National Park, it also announced a nine-year moratorium on logging of all virgin bush south of the Cook River. Both decisions were welcomed by conservationists anxious to preserve what remains of New Zealand’s indigenous lowland forests, but* a new move by the Forest Service has got them worried again. It now plans to conduct logging trials throughout the 100-mile-long stretch of State forest between the Cook River (which is fed by the Fox Glacier) and the lower Cascade River, south of Jackson Bay. Asked if logging trials will be in breach of the Government’s own moratorium, Mr Peter Berg, Conservator of Forests at Hokitika,

says: “It depends how you interpret ‘moratorium’.”

His interpretation of the moratorium on logging up to 1990 is that it forbids only commercial logging. The purpose of the moratorium is to allow the region’s resources and values to be assessed. Mr Berg says it is necessary to conduct logging trials as part of that assessment.

About 30 university students are already at work in that area, employed by Forestry, Lands and Survey, Wildlife, and the D.S.I.R. They are doing a wide range of studies of the region’s botany, soils, and wildlife.

Logging trials have not yet started, and Mr Berg says none are scheduled for the next 12 months. But he says that trials will be necessary before he can realistically report to the Minister of Forests (Mr Elworthy) on the pro-

ductive values of the area. The Forest Service would need the Minister’s approval to do logging trials. “He would have to be satisfied that it is necessary,” says Mr Berg. The question was raised by an officials committee that reported to the Minister about two months ago on the options available for giving regional assistance to South Westland. Their submissions on logging trials were not in the committee’s original report but in an amendment to their proposals. “Most of their recommendations have been referred to the Minister for Regional Development (Mr Birch)”, says Mr Berg. “I believe that if we are going to consider harvesting as one of the options, we could not do it without logging trials. “The officials committee has recommended that decisions on land use for that region be made by 1986, so that any change in the level of wood flows can be anticipated and planned. We’re looking at a three-year programme (of logging trials) at this stage.” Conservationists are particularly worried about any threat to kahikatea (white pine) in that area. Mr

Berg says the potential to produce kahikatea would be small, and it might be that as a result of the trials it would be decided not to mill any kahikatea at all. Mr lan James, a Forest Service scientist working in south Westland, agrees. “My opinion is that a fair proportion of the white pine stands are likely to be reserved,” he says. “There’s not much kahikatea left in the virgin state. It’s usually a forest with a high use by birdlife, and it’s also under high risk from erosion by the adjacent rivers.”

Mr James says the Forest Service is going into the study of the region with a completely open mind, and with no commitment to timber recovery. “We’re trying to make the best land-use decisions. We have no historic commitments to provide timber, and it could well be that no timber comes from there. But there could be areas where management (for • timber production) would not conflict with other uses.”

Mr Berg could not say how much

timber would be felled for the trials, but adds that normally three or four hectares would be logged at a time. That might be done in three or four “patches.” The amount would depend on the technique chosen — either picking out the odd tree, or coupe felling, in which a whole stand of even-aged trees is removed.

The early part of the survey would identify the types of timber and the size of the “resource.” Three types of timber tree could be considered — the beech forests of the far south of south Westland, kahikatea in the low-lying wet areas further north, and extensive podocarp (mainly rimu) forests on the terraces.

Mr Berg concedes that there are no mills in the whole region under study, except for a small mill at Haast using timber from privately owned forests. Timber cut from this region would be trucked north to Whataroa and Harihari.

“It is part of the natural supply for those mills,” he says. “Those are the ones that we are most

worried about. It is not possible to supply all they need from north of the Cook River.”

He emphasises, however, that Forest Service policy is now to get away from the present practice of over-cutting and move to sustained yield management. “Our intention is to get to that stage as soon as possible. South Westland is a unique resource. Its value is in retaining a small supply (of timber) forever and a day.” As well as regarding logging trials as a breach of the moratorium, conservationists fear that expenditure on proving the “resource” will tend to give momentum to commercial logging. “I call it the Clyde Dam syndrome,” says Jerry McSweeney, national conservation officer for the Royal Forest and Bird Society. “Once they’ve poured millions into the investigation, they can’t stop.” Mr Berg is aware that conservationists will be alarmed at the plan to conduct logging trials. “We’ll have to explain very carefully what we’re about,” he says. “We’ll have to get the necessary approvals and assure people that what we are doing is strictly controlled.”