American Naturalist Speaks About Waipoua

Chronicle (Levin), 10 June 1949, Page 7

American Naturalist Speaks About Waipoua

Press Association)

(Per

WELLINGTON, Jiine 9.' If the Waipoua fow?st were in ' America, all the conservation societies would be eoncentrating 6n its preservation, said Dr. O. J. Murte, American. naturalist, who h'as been visiting N e\v Zealand, in a public address in Wellington tonight. Ile said he had been impressed by wliat he had seen on a visit to the forest, including a walk into it by an inconspicuous traek. However, the preservation of the forest was not a matter of di'screditing foresters' tech niques and theories of forest manage ment. He said he had Ueen impressed with the men he had niet in the State Forest Service and believed that if an area such as the Waipoua forest wero to be preserved, the Forest Service could help a great deal with its techni ques in safeguarding the forest. What ever was done with the area, it would be wise ' to have technical help. In America it had been found that when an area was preserved for the public, humans in exeessive numbers tended to destroy what they wished to enjoy. "It is notv a choice as between the ideas of oue technical group and another but simply a matter of.what New Zealand wants to do with Waipoua forest, ' 'a he said. ' ' Having made that decision, safeguard it with all the technical assistanee* yoV can get." . He hoped ^sTew Zealand would learn from mistakes made in America. It would be a mistake to criss-cross hue forest with motor roads. There was the need of a hostel but in. the Unitecl States-it had been found desirable to place such buildings on the fringe oi a preserved area so that the tounst facilities that sprang up around them did not detract from the natural beauty of the country. Dr. Murie's address was delivered under the auspices of the Forest and Bird Protection -Society.