PALMER'S ROAD farewell to a scenic gem

Forest and Bird, Volume 16, Issue 2, 1 May 1985, Page 6

PALMER'S ROAD farewell to a scenic gem

by

National Conservation Officer

Gerry McSweeney,

: he mountains, valleys and beech forests around Springs Junction, near Lewis Pass, are a scenic gem anda key tourist area. However, rising beech chip prices threaten much of this Upper Grey-Maruia Valley area with clearance. The Nelson chipmill, which has already devastated privately owned native forest near Nelson, is now ranging further afield. Extensive areas of the Victoria State Forest Park are zoned for logging in the draft management plan shortly to be made public. Much of the privately owned forest in the Maruia Valley is signed up for chipping or has already gone. Now even legal road reserves have been devastated because the Greymouth County Council succumbed to the chipmill’s temptations. Until last December, Palmers Road wound beneath huge red beech trees for 15 kilometres from near Springs Junction into the Upper Grey River to a small farm called Newcombes. The beech forests on both sides of the road are protected within the Lewis Pass National Reserve and the Victoria Forest Park, but the chain-wide road reserve is legally controlled by Greymouth County Council.

Shattered stumps mark an orgy of forest destruction Today shattered stumps, a churned up road and a 30-metre wide swathe of destruction are all that remains of what was widely regarded as New Zealand’s finest beech forest drive. The Nelson chipmill has claimed another scenic victim. Over Christmas, the Greymouth County Council sold off all the trees within the road reserve, mostly to the chipmill, for about $3.50 a tonne. A few of the finest red beech were sawn up for

bridge decking for County roads — alow grade of red beech for which treated radiata pine is usually preferred. Grey County’s action is quite legal, but it is morally indefensible. Most other local authorities would regard scenic roads like Palmers as an asset to be treasured and preserved — not hocked off to the highest bidder. Subsidised by the New Zealand taxpayer The supreme irony is that not only will Greymouth County receive timber revenue from their logging operation, but to restore the road from its pounding by logging trucks, Greymouth County will be aided by a special taxpayer grant of $60,000 from the National Roads Boards (NRB) Back Blocks Roading

Fund. And this is at a time when the ‘‘Beautiful New Zealand’’ scheme is attempting elsewhere to restore trees and shrubs to enhance the scenic beauty of our roadsides. The Back Blocks Fund is a legacy from a bygone pioneering age. Today pushing roads into wilderness makes no economic or environmental sense and the fund should be scrapped. Coasters unite to protest vandalism ‘*As the direct descendent of the very first settlers in Buller and Westland, the Newcombe brothers, and as a daughter of the man who lived in and loved this area, I cannot stand by without protest and watch this senseless destruction of a once beautiful environment’’ pleaded Norma Streeter (nee Newcombe) of Lake Kaniere, Westland in her 22 February

letter to the Minister of Works, protesting about Greymouth County’s vandalism. ‘"My father, uncle, grandfather and great uncle, unaided by financial subsidy, cut this road through to provide access to their isolated farm without detriment to the surrounding countryside. How can $60,000 now be justified to upgrade it — and for what? It leads only to Newcom1 farm (now Grooms) and there terminates. ‘‘T am appalled to note the unnecessarily wide swathe being cut, turning a scenic and historic area into an unsightly muddy mess.’’ [In a gross breach of Catchment Board regulations some trees along the road were even felled into the Grey River. |] Norma Streeter is not alone in her protests. Vic Hawker owned Newcom1 and farmed very successfully there for nearly 20 years until he sold it last year after his wife passed away. Throughout his time in the Upper Grey he fought to protect the huge trees and the scenic roadway of Palmers Road. The narrow scenic road didn’t handicap his farming operation. He too is outraged by Greymouth County’s action. On 4 February, Forest and Bird’s 320-strong West Coast branch passed a unanimous motion at its AGM _ deploring the Greymouth County’s actions. They called on the Minister of Works to suspend taxpayer funding for the road improvements [the County claims they have cleared the 30 metre wide strip in

order to widen the existing road formation from 3.5 metres to 4.8 metres! ]. Similar concerns have been expressed throughout Westland. There is growing recognition on the Coast that scenic gems like Palmers Road distinguish Westland from the rest of New Zealand and are the basis of Westland’s character and its booming tourist industry. Footnote: let Newmans show you New Zealand The Nelson Chipmill is 50 percent owned by the Newmans Group, leaders in the tourist industry. ‘‘Let Newmans show you New Zealand’’ is one of their mottos. Does that include Palmers Road, Maruia Valley, the Gowan Valley approach to Nelson Lakes National Parks and all the other scenic gems their woodchipping has destroyed? Is to too much to hope for more sensitivity from this industry giant that depends on our scenic beauty for its survival. Certainly Newmans should be able to afford it. They recently announced that their interim trading profit had leapt by 83.6 percent. The Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society would far prefer to work with Newmans to promote nature tourism, described in our February journal, than fight them over chipmilling. ee