Crown forest conservation issues settled

Press, 7 December 1988, Page 4

Crown forest conservation issues settled

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Wellington

Conservation issues over the sale of cutting rights for Crown forests have been settled to the Government’s satisfaction.

The Minister for StateOwned Enterprises, Mr Rodger, and the Minister of Conservation, Ms Clark, expect the settlement to benefit the public, conservation groups and potential forestry bidders.

They said the issue had been considered as part of the process of corporatisating the Government’s commercial forestry assets.

Over the last 18 months departmental officials, representatives of the Forestry and Land Corporations, and public interest groups, had identified a series of conservation issues.

Problems and concerns raised had been included while formulating the pro-

cess for selling cutting rights, the Ministers said. As a result, agreement had been reached in a way that would satisfy both commerical and environmental objectives. The settlement was designed to ensure that the public could reasonably expect to be able to enter and use areas of plantation forests for recreation. Sale agreements would contain a clause with a general provision protecting public access rights, the Ministers said. Public access covenants and easements as to the number of specific public walking tracks and access ways would be recorded in instruments of sale. Each forest manager would have the discretion

to restrict public access, the Ministers said, in the interests of public safety or the welfare of the forest.

Before corporatisation on April 1, 1987, managers in the old Forest Service had a similar discretion.

“We can assure potential bidders for the forestry assets that the obligations concerning land with conservation or environmental value will be made clear before bidding occurs,” the Ministers said. There had been talk of a code of practice to protect public access and conservation issues but the Government had opted instead to use the covenant procedure.