Knuckles tapped over Nelson tree clearing

Press, 6 March 1984, Page 3

Knuckles tapped over Nelson tree clearing

Nelson reporter The Minister of Forests,. Mr Elworthy, yesterday lightly rapped the knuckles of, officers of -the Nelson conservancy for felling more native trees than were needed to clear an area round the southern boundary of Golden Downs Forest

Last month, Ms Gwenny Davis, of the Joint Campaign on Native Forests, accused the Forest Service of felling about 30ha of beech in the Blue Glen area on the southern boundary of Golden Downs Forest, near Kikiwa. She contended that the felling and burn-off to

follow could be seen as a sequel to the Forest Service clearing programme at Big Bush.

Last year the service cleared many hectares of kanuka and manuka fringing the southern boundary of the Big Bush native forest

A report on the felling at Blue Glen was sent to Mr Elworthy.

When asked bv “The Press” yesterday for his comments on it, Mr Elworthy said that “on the basis of the report it did appear that the Forest Service could have left about 12 to 15 hectares of bush. “However, what is equally clear is that there was no intention to circumvent or ignore the indigenous forest management policy as con*servationists contend. The whole thing was a matter of judgment, of interpretation, and that given the circumstances the officers did not act unreasonably at all,” he said.

Mr Elworthy said he was asking the Director-General of Forests to define the differences between scrub and forest and to provide guidelines to assist officers to make a judgment. Last month the editor of

“The Press” received a letter from Mr B. A. Calder, of Christchurch, on the same subject. Mr Calder said: “Consider 30ha of (Nelson beech forest) life and beauty destroyed for ever by the Forest Service deliberately acting contrary to Government policy. Their excuse for the clear-felling was to tidy up the boundaries with the encroaching Golden Downs pine plantations. “The alleged shortcomings of certain Dunedin M.O.W. staff pale in comparison with this arrogant display of vandalism. To be consistent, the State Services Commission should investigate how much clearfelling is needed within the ranks of the Forest Service to ensure it adheres to the Government’s indigenous forest policy for the area. “As this is not the first such case in the Nelson district to come to the Minister’s attention he should take remedial action or resign.”

Mr Brian Collins, assistant conservator of forests, at Nelson, said that of about 60ha of bush on the Blue Glen boundaries, about 30ha contained predominantly beech forest with the fin-

gers of kanuka in them.

“We decided we wanted to tidy up our boundaries and this was to tie in with an adjoining property owned by Mr Lockhead,” he said.

This property was sold to the Forest Service after the beech had been logged from it two to five years previously. “When we cleared our area alongside the Lockhead property it became clear we should bum the residue. However we realised there was still about 2ha of the Lockhead property that still had a patch of beech on it—not very good—but we thought we would salvage those logs before we burned. Unfortunately, the day that the Joint Campaign on Native Forests and a television crew arrived they found our logging crews hauling out logs from this patch. They immediately assumed that we were still logging in the Blue Glen,” he said. “We weren’t” The Blue Glen area was beside the Mount Richmond Forest Park, which contained magnificent native forest, and was totally protected by the Forest Service against milling and fires, he said.