The greening of a FOREST GIANT

Forest and Bird, Volume 20, Issue 3, 1 August 1989, Page 10

The greening of a FOREST GIANT

By

Gerry McSweeney

fi W: are committed to the best possible use of New Zealand's resources — and sometimes that means to leave them in their natural state." With those few words, Bryce Heard, Chief Executive of Tasman Forestry Ltd, wholly owned subsidiary of the giant Fletcher Challenge group, joined with the Minister of Conservation, Forest and Bird, Federated Mountain Clubs and the Maruia Society on 22 June to sign the historic Tasman Conservation Accord. Negotiated over a 15 month period, the Accord safeguards 52 important areas of native forest throughout New Zealand from Otago to the Coromandel totalling 42,101 hectares. It represents the biggest commitment ever made by a New Zealand company to conserving native forests and wildlife. It has also delighted staff of the Conservation Department, particularly Rotorua Regional Conservator Dave Field and Principal Wildlife Officer, Alan Saunders of Waikato who have played a key role in the Accord and in the battle to save endangered kokako in the Central North Island. Today a total of only about 1,000 kokako survive. The largest remaining population are found from the Mamaku Plateau to Rotoehu Forest between Tauranga and Rotorua. Under the Tasman Accord, 3,500 hectares of native forest on Tasman’s Gammons block in the heart of this area will be sold to the Conservation Department and added to the adjoining Kaimai-Mamaku Forest Park. Not only will this safeguard the kokako, kiwi and other native birds in the Gammons forest, it will also provide birds with a continuous forested corridor from the Forest Park across the Bay of Plenty to the important outlying reserves of Puwhenua, Mangorewa and Otanewainuku. As well as protecting kokako habitat, Tasman Forestry will grant $150,000 over the next three years for research and management to ensure the kokako’s survival. Under the Accord some tawa forests in the Gammons block will still be cleared in order to meet Tasman’s legal commitments to the Kinleith pulp and paper mill until December 1990 when Kinleith will substitute plantation eucalypt for the native tawa it presently uses

to produce the bulk of New Zealand's high quality papers. However, until this conversion occurs, tawa will only come from low conservation value cutover forests that do not contain kokako and are not part of the vital Mamaku plateau wildlife corridor.

Historic End to Clearance

Amidst the Accord’s long list of forest names, hectares of reserves and of the threatened species protected, it is easy to lose sight of probably the most significant provision of the Accord. The Accord states: "Tasman Forestry shall adopt an environmental code of practice for its operations in New Zealand that will preclude the clearance of indigenous forest." In February 1989 Tasman also gave a commitment to the Commerce Commission that were they successful in their bid to acquire state production forestry assets they would "bring about a halt to all logging of native forest as soon as practically achievable.’ This is an historic commitment. It means an end to the pioneering days when industry regarded our bush as a treasure house to be plundered. It parallels the Government's 1986 decision to set up a Conservation Department, since entrusted with protecting 98 percent of New Zealand's publicly owned native forests. Because of this commitment to stop all bush clearance and halt all native logging in state production forests, Forest and Bird has supported Tasman Forestry’s bid to purchase state forest assets. If the Crown is to sell these forests we believe Tasman’s ownership of them would be preferable to their purchase by, for example, Nelson Pine Forests Ltd who run the beech woodchip mill at Nelson, Venture Pacific Ltd who seem increasingly keen to woodchip the North Westland beech forest and Carter Holt Harvey — Caxtons who continue to log native forest and are reluctant to negotiate with us. It is also preferable to their purchase by a number of Asian companies bidding who have expressed little interest in forest conservation. It may also be better than leaving the state forests with the Forestry Corporation who have doggedly championed the logging of native forests in South West New Zealand and fought against enforceable sus-

tained yield covenants in North Westland. Bryce Heard and David Buckleigh, Managing Director and General Manager of Tasman Forest Division respectively, make no bones about why the company sees no future in clearing native bush for pines or logging for native timber. "It simply doesn’t make economic or environmental sense. New Zealanders don’t want their remaining native forests logged. Also because we are now down to remote remnants it’s very expensive to log these areas. The most economic areas to establish plantation forests are on already cleared farmland, some of which is reverting to scrub, and not to embark on the expensive business of first clearing the native forest." David Buckleigh and Bryce Heard should know. On their staff they now have the best advice available on New Zealand's pine forests in former Forest Service scientist Dr Wink Sutton. Dr Sutton, who is currently also president of the NZ Institute of Forestry,

makes it clear that instead of the endless bitter arguments of the last 10 years over logging native forests, the NZ forest industry should have concentrated on planning the processing and marketing of our huge radiata pine resource which presently supplies 98 percent of our timber production and has enormous export importance. Sutton is a firm believer that the sooner the world leaves natural forests undisturbed as gene pools and switches to timber production from plantations, the better.

Dialogue not Conflict The Tasman Accord makes good economic and environmental sense but it also signals a new approach to environmental problem solving. Traditionally, industry and the environment movement have been like prizefighters in a ring, acrimoniously slugging it out with each other until a referee — usually the Government or the courts — intervenes and comes up with a compromise which often pleases neither the environment movement nor industry. By contrast, in the Tasman Accord negotiating process parties directly involved sat down to discuss issues and find solutions. For nearly a year, Forest and Bird (Gerry McSweeney, Basil Graeme and Kevin Smith), on behalf of the environment movement, Tasman Forestry (David New and David Buckleigh) and David Field of the Conservation Department identified common ground, tabled information on the ecological and commercial importance of blocks and pro-

gressively resolved issues of disagreement. We were helped in the task by a major report on the ecological values of all Tasman’s holdings prepared by Kevin Smith with help from other Forest and Bird and DoC staff The amicable Accord signing ceremony in Fletcher Challenge’s Wellington boardroom represented a giant advance from the bitter battles of the late 1970s and early 80s to save the kokako-rich forests of Rotorua’s Mamaku plateau. Mammon on the Mamaku Under an extraordinarily generous 1973 leasing arrangement, the Government leased NZ Forest Products (NZFP) the Mamaku plateau native state forest for clearance, burning and conversion to pines. Surrounding the state forests were other native forested lands owned or leased by NZFP where clearance proceeded apace. At that time these forests had kaka, kakariki and many kokako. By 1976 half these native forests had been elim-

inated soon followed by all its kakariki, most of the kaka and many kokako. In 1969 the late Sir Charles Fleming penned a blistering attack on the logging operations and their effect on birdlife in a Listener article entitled "Mammon on the Mamaku’’. The article and the Native Forests Action Council's 1977 Rainforest Campaign riveted public attention on Horohoro and other Mamaku plateau forests. Outrage at the burnoffs was widespread and was spearheaded by Tauranga and Rotorua conservationists and Hauraki plains farmers led by Brian Wright and Gordon Stephenson. Finally in 1983 at the height of the battle to fully protect the Kaimai-Mamaku Forest Park, ecological surveys were carried out of the 20 percent of original native forest which remained of NZFP’s Mamaku Sate Forest lease which adjoins the Forest Park. As a consequence of these Forest and Bird and Wildlife Service surveys and with the co-operation of NZFP, much of the remaining leased state native forest was reserved. All this time conservation attention had focused on the public estate. We felt largely powerless to influence native forest clearance of private land. Unfortunately, this feeling was reinforced at the Commission for the Environment’s 1985 Tauranga conference on native forest which served to uphold private property rights over native forests and the public's sense of powerlessness to halt the consequent tragic loss of lowland forests. However, dramatic changes in attitude were simultaneously taking place amongst kokako scientists and the public. Public abhorrence of native forest logging and clearance was growing throughout New Zealand and even on the West Coast burnoffs ceased in 1986. Removal of Forestry subsidies also rendered uneconomic most "conversion" operations. Kokako research on the Mamaku plateau building on Wildlife Service survey data also revealed that these Bay of Plenty forests held the largest surviving kokako populations in the country. Only by halting the destruction of these forests and the fragmentation of the linking forest corridors could the birds have any chance of a future. Unfortunately the Wildlife Service's timid and powerless negotiators agreed to protection of only minimal corridor areas on the plateau — amounting to little more than steep gully systems — soon shown by kokako researchers to be almost useless to sustain kokako. From 1984, Forest Products forest clearance operation therefore relentlessly continued to eliminate nearly a thousand hectares a year of forest on the plateau. Changing Conservation and Corporate Scene The tide turned in early 1988. Newly appointed Forest and Bird staffers Ann and Basil Graeme, Bay of Plenty conservationists and enthusiastic staff of the new Department of Conservation resolved once and for all to save their kokako and halt each summer's mushroom smoke clouds from native forest burnoffs. The 1987 stockmarket crash and the demise of Forest Products Rada group also signalled big changes on the corporate scene. The Australian-dominated Elders Resources NZFP company arose from the ashes

of that once great New Zealand company NZFP. As part of a complex exchange of assets, Fletcher Challenge subsidiary Tasman Forestry took over ownership of all the former NZFP leasehold and freehold forests on the northern Mamaku plateau and a contract to supply tawa to the Kinleith mill until December 1990. Debate over the future of the remaining Mamaku plateau native forests intensified. In March and April 1988, Ann and Basil and other Bay of Plenty conservationists took centre stage in dispute with both Elders and Tasman Forestry on the Mamaku plateau and the Rotoitoi 5B1 block hit the headlines (Forest & Bird August 1988). As a consequence of these public disputes Tasman, Doc, Forest and Bird and Elders agreed to try to negotiate a solution to a seemingly insoluble problem. On the one hand were outstanding native forests containing endangered kokako, on the other was Elders Resources Kinleith mill, a major employer, export earner and wholly dependent on a continuing supply of native hardwood to produce high quality paper. In the middle was Tasman Forestry committed to supply tawa and also with an expectation they could plant the cleared land in pines. Yet Tasman was also developing a corporate policy not to clear bush. Through 15 months of detailed negotiations, a compromise was agreed on to resolve this dilemma. In discussions with Elders, it was determined that plantation eucalyptus timber could be substituted for the native hardwood to make the Kinleith mill's high quality paper. (The substantial technological modifications

and investment required to do this have just been approved by Elders and will be completed by December 1990.) Tasman, Forest and Bird and DoC then tackled the issue of how to meet Tasman’s tawa supply contract to Kinleith until December 1990 yet preserve all Tasman’s native forest on the Mamaku plateau which contains endangered kokako. After months of negotiation we reached an agreement which preserves all the forests containing endangered kokako, protects continuous native forest corridors across the Mamaku plateau and confines tawa extraction to small heavily cutover areas on the periphery of the plateau. Elsewhere in New Zealand the Tasman Accord also gives legal protection to many native forests whose protection has long been sought by conservationists (see map). These include the 1,896 hectare Tokomaru forest behind Shannon at the northern end of the Tararua Ranges. Over the last 20 years a series of proposals to log the rimu forests have met determined opposition spearheaded by Forest and Bird's Manawatu and Horowhenua branches. As recently as 1984 logging proposals for the block's owners, the Odlins group (since taken over by Fletcher Challenge) spurred the formation of the Save the Tokomaru committee. Now under the Tasman Accord the Tokomaru block will be fully legally protected. Other forests which will be legally protected include: e Superb virgin rimu forest on the shores of Lake Brunner. e 8,100 hectares of beech forest at Ngatapa in

Northern Hawkes Bay next to the Whirinaki Forest Park. e More than 6,000 hectares of forest on the lower slopes of Mt Tarawera in the Bay of Plenty. e 340 hectares of beech forest next to the Mt Richmond Forest Park in Marlborough e 100 hectares of regenerating kauri forest at Kopu in the Coromandel. Conservation Minister Philip Woollaston has described the Tasman Accord as a landmark agreement between industry and environmentalists which can serve as a model for others to follow. Other groups within Fletcher Challenge have already followed Tasman Forestry’s lead on environmental issues. Since 1988, Fletcher Titanium Products Ltd has worked closely with community and environment groups in planning titanium mining on the Barrytown Flats in Westland. On 1 May 1989, prior to selling its mining venture and land at Barrytown, it gifted Forest and Bird all 27 hectares of its land which contains nesting colonies of Westland black petrel. Fletcher-owned Australian Newsprint Mills is exploring a similar Accord negotiating process to resolve the bitter conflicts over forestry issues in Tasmania. On 19 June Fletcher Challenge Canada also announced an environmental policy for its operations. At a time of unprecedented public interest in environmental issues no good business can afford to ignore the environment. Neither can environmentalists ignore business if we are to achieve the rapid and effective changes needed to guarantee all of us a future. y&