Waitutu forest ‘threatened’

Press, 1 July 1983, Page 5

Waitutu forest ‘threatened’

The Waitutu State forest was being threatened and there would be more threats in the future, a public meeting at Aldersgate was told last evening.

“The tragedy of Waitutu is if we do nothing,” the senior conservation officer for the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, Mr Gerry McSweeny, told the meeting. More than 120 people who attended the meeting, which was called jointly by the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, the Native Forests Action Council and Federated Mountain Clubs, were exhorted to write to the Lands and Survey Department by July 18 to show their support for a proposal to include the State forest in the Fiordland National Park.

Mr McSweeny said that the Forest Service had done an excellent job of managing Waitutu, but there was an increasing danger of demands for selective logging in the forest. The National Parks Authority indicated in 1974 or 1975 that the forest had national park potential. It was not seen as a priority then because there was no threat to the forest.

However, the Waitutu Incorporation, the Maori owners of coastal land which borders the forest, had signed a contract for the logging of timber on its land. Discussions were still continuing on the proposal, but if it went ahead a road would be built up to the State forest boundary. That would lead to pressure from the timber industry for logging in the forest. A review of the Forest Service’s management plan for the forest listed some of the area as productive for-

est, which could produce a substantial yield of 6800 cubic metres of timber a year. “Right now we think it is more important to have it inside the national park rather than outside and under threat,” he said. The forest would complement the Fiordland National Park because it had different forest growth and historical Maori sites. Preliminary wildlife studies showed it had a number of special birds and provided a winter habitat for many birds that lived in the

Fiordland National Park. The area also had recreational and tourism potential. The coastal track provided flat and straightforward walking which was “terrific” family recreation. Canoeing and rafting offered important potential for adventure holidays for tourists. There were abundant sea food resources along the coast, which resources would disappear if the road went ahead. If the forest was included in the national park, it would not have to be locked up for ever.