Pureora Forest

Press, 27 May 1985, Page 20

Pureora Forest

Sir,—ln February, in breach of the King Country management plan and the indigenous forest policy, 40 hectares of mature Hall’s Totara forest was destroyed, as Stan Hemsley reminds us (May 18). Responding to public outrage, the Forest Service admitted its “mistake” and undertook to restore the area to the original cover of some 10 totara a hectare of kamahi and scrub hardwoods. This may not be easy on bare pumice meticulously cleared for exotic planting. The exercise is an absurdity, giving satisfaction only to those who would rub the Forest Service’s nose in the dirt but doing little for genuine conservation. The area in question, about five kilometres from a public highway, is surrounded by land development and pines. Let the money be spent rather on indigenous restoration in an area of greater conservation value. Forest Service “penance” should be insisted on for a worth while end, not just for form’s sake.—Yours, etc., ERIC BENNETT. Wellington, May 21, 1985.