Beech utilisation

Press, 19 February 1986, Page 18

Beech utilisation

Sir,—The World Conservation Strategy (1980) provided an intellectual framework and practical guidance for the development of national strategies. Representatives from Forests, Lands, Agriculture, Works, the D.5.1.R., but not the Treasury, alongside other people, assisted in the publication (1981) of the proposed New Zealand strategy entitled "Integrating Conservation and Development” Last year, the conservation movement, in an extaordinary aboutface, supported the Treasury in persuading the Government to reject this economically “sloppy” strategy for land management. As the Under-Secretary for Forests, David Butcher, explains, justifying beech supply for chipping to comply with profitability demands on the Forestry Corporation, total removal is “more economic” than selective logging. Similarly, 40-year chip rotations for export are more "economic” than 80-year sawlog ones, even if the latter do provide long-term mill employment and jobs in manufacturing solid wood products. The outlook for sound beech management looks bleak on the West Coast; how long will it survive in Southland? — Yours, etc., ERIC BENNETT. Wellington,. f February 16, 1986. 1