‘Changing land’ focus of Conservation Week

Press, 1 August 1989, Page 26

‘Changing land’ focus of Conservation Week

This year’s Conservation Week challenges New Zealanders to examine their relationship with the land.

The week’s general campaign aims to get as many people as possible doing something for the environment, whether it is recycling wastes, planting a tree, or getting rid of spray cans with CFCs. Its specific theme is “The Changing Land.” The emphasis is on earthscience conservation and

the preservation of landforms and geological features. . “The general public often think of conservation in terms of saving native forests and endangered birds,” said a spokesman for the Geological Society, Dr Bruce Hayward. “But few ever spare a thought for conservation of earth-science features, such as landforms and geological sites, in spite of

their having aesthetic, educational, recreational, economic, scientific and historic values. “Many important landforms and certain kinds of geological features are rare and threatened, such as geysers and mudpools, lava caves, active sanddunes, limestone caves and stalactites, and fossil sites,” Dr Hayward said. Conservation Week runs to next Sunday.