New reserves but not Okarito

Press, 20 April 1979, Page 1

New reserves but not Okarito

PA Wellington Almost 130,000 ha of State-forest land on the West Coast would be reserved, said the Minister of Lands (Mr V. S. Young) yesterday. But the moratorium on the south Okarito State forest had been lifted to allow a “viable level” of timber supply to the Ruatapu sawmill. The land to be reserved includes more than 50 blocks from Karamea in the north to the Westland National Park in the south. The announcement followed yesterday’s decision by the Government caucus to approve the recommendations of the Officials’ Committee on West Coast Reserves Proposals. The committee was set up late last year to study proposed reserves as part of the Government’s pol-

icy for West Coast State forests announced in August. The biggest single change will be the addition of just over 13,000 ha of Waikukupa State forest to the Westland National Park together with a small part of the South Okarito State forest near Lake Mapourika. Most of south Okarito will be retained under Forest Service administration for recreation use and logging. Mr Young said it was .vital that the Ruatapu mill and processing plant continued to work. Negotiations to this end were taking place between Fletcher’s, Henderson and Pollard, and the Development Finance Corporation. A supply of 30,000 cu m over 10 years was needed to maintain the mill and the Forest Service, acting on Government approval.

had now offered to supply this. The decisions on reserves and Okarito recognised the enormous value of a “mountain crest to sea coast” national park incorporating lowland forest of scientific, wildlife, and recreational importance as well as upland forest, Mr Young said. They also recognised the social and economic importance to the region of the timber resources of south Okarito. Most of the ecological areas proposed by the scientific co-ordinating committee had been recommended for reservation without alteration. In a few cases minor alterations would release productive land without compromising the intrinsic scientific values of the proposed reserves. The biggest alterations had taken place in the Buller area, including the

replacement of the proposed Ngakawau ecological area with an enlarged Orikaka ecological area. In the Charleston State forest the Tiropahi proposal had been considerably reduced but a new Pororari ecological area had been added. The net effect of the alterations was that a further 100,000 cu m of wood would be available for logging, Mr Young said. While changes recommended by the officials’ committee had released only about 4000 ha of land with agricultural potential, related surveys had indicated more than IOO.OOOha of such land in State forest outside of reserves and almost 270,000 ha with potential for agriculture or forestry in other tenures. Although the reservations included much sawlog and veneer-log timber they represented only a little more than three

years cut at present permissible levels.

The potential of minerals and water-resource development had not been overlooked.

Mining and prospecting could be done in some circumstances although mining could not proceed until a detailed feasibility study had been considered by the Minister of Forests and the Minister of Energy, after public comment on environmentalimpact evaluations. The recommendations completed the Government’s forest policy for the West Coast, Mr Young said. It meant that those State forests north of the Cook River not reserved for ecological purposes or covered by amenity zones or protection forests would make up the minimum resource for planning the future of the West Coast sawmilling industry.