Waitutu

Forest and Bird, Volume 15, Issue 4, 1 November 1984, Unnumbered Page

Waitutu

FROM THE MOUNTAINTOPS TO THE SOUTHERN OCEAN As Forest & Bird goes to press, discussions regarding the future of Waitutu forest are continuing. The milling agreement between the Maori Incorporation and Feltex has fallen through, and it is hoped the new Government and the Maori owners can find a satisfactory solution. If so, it will be a tremendous achievement for conservation, and for Maori-pakeha relationships also. The last extensive forested plains still untouched in 1984 are in Waitutu — described as potentially one of the world’s top 10 ecological reserves by David Bellamy — and are mostly in Maori ownership. Despite the extreme rarity of this forest, it would be wrong and unreasonable to expect the Maori owners to preserve the forest without compensation. One solution to the problem could lie in the example of Maori agreement in 1971 to lease Lake Waikaremoana to the Urewera National Park Board. This was for a term of 50 years, with a provision for a rent review at 10-year intervals, and with the right of renewal for a further term of 50 years. The rent was at 5.5 percent per annum of Government Valuation of the lake bed ($143,500 as at 1974). In our picture, the forest backs the spectacular Southland coast for 23 kms. Behind it on higher ground lies the Waitutu State Forest, and behind that again, the mountains of Fiordland National Park. we