Conservation groups unhappy over extension

Press, 30 July 1986, Page 6

Conservation groups unhappy over extension

The Government’s decision to extend contracts to supply logs from BullerKaramea forests for another six months has come as some disappointment with conservation groups.

The move was yet another deferral of decisions on establishing proposed reserves in the region and the Paparoa National Park, said the director of the Joint Campaign on Native Forests, Mr Guy Salmon, recently. “Our disappointment is tempered by what we see as a commitment by the Government to a rational, balanced and consultative approach to making the final decisions,” he said. “The Government has been under pressure to make a public commitment to prop up indefin-

itely an outdated and unacceptable pattern of forest utilisation in both milling and woodchipping. “It appears that the Government has resisted those pressures at least for the time being. Conservationists are pleased that reserves and production forest areas will be dealt with at the same time,” he said.

The total package of forests and reserves would also be subject to environmental impact reporting procedures, Mr Salmon said.

“We are pleased that the Government is firm in its commitment to cushion the impact of the forthcoming changes by generating alternative employment opportunities. >-lThe best sustainable eiftployment opportunities

will be found in the West Coast’s new growth industry of tourism. This is particularly the case for special places such as the proposed Paparoa National Park, the proposed Oparara reserve at Karamea and in the Victoria Forest Park round Reefton.

Progress on preserving these tourist assets had been “painfully” slow, Mr Salmon said. “Protection of the Maruia West Bank forests, for example, was first recommended by the Officials Committee for the Environment in 1972. The Paparoa National Park and most of the other proposed reserves have been under consideration for almost a decide,” said fifr Salmon.