Forests recommendation welcomed by J.C.N.F.

Press, 12 May 1984, Page 9

Forests recommendation welcomed by J.C.N.F.

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington The Joint Campaign on Native Forests has welcomed the report of the National Parks and Reserves Authority recommending increased protection for the KaimaiMamaku State Forest Park. The Campaign has written to the Minister of Forests, Mr Elworthy, asking him to “firmly resist the blandishments” of those who still hoped to exploit native timber in the KaimaiMamaku area. There had been an 11year struggle to save these remnant forests and the authority’s report, if implemented in full, would offer a form of protection equivalent to a national reserve, it

said. The report, released by Mr Elworthy, was prepared at the Minister’s request by parks authority. The joint campaign’s director, Mr Guy Salmon, said the Minister should implement the authority’s report “to the letter.” “This report gets to the nub of the matter because it recognises that timber exploitation, or any implications of future exploitation, are anathema to the people of the Bay of Plenty,” he said. “It is time for an end to the political prevarication that has dogged all previous efforts to gain firm protection for these forests,” said Mr Salmon. He particularly welcomed

the authority’s acknowledgement that exotic planting, silvicultural manipulation and helicopter logging were not compatible with the ecology and recreation values of the KaimaiMamaku forests. This issue has been bedevilled for years by the pseudo scientific theories of foresters, who had asserted that native forests needed to be artificially restructured for their own good, he said. “Our forests have survived and renewed themselves for 50 million years without the assistance of foresters. If they are securely protected from exploitation, they will be with us for 50 million years to come,” Mr Salmon said. Earlier report, page 6