Test case in Far North

Forest and Bird, Issue 265, 1 August 1992, Page 11

Test case in Far North

IN WHAT IS SEEN as a test case for the protection of native forest on private land under the Resource Management Act, a Far North farmer has been refused permission to clearfell 100 hectares of regenerating native bush. The landowner, Maurice Hodgkinson, sought planning approval to clear an undeveloped section on his farm at Umawera to plant exotic forest. This application met stiff opposition from the Far North branch of Forest and Bird and the Department of Conservation, as the area was habitat to threatened species and had been accorded an "outstanding wildlife classification".

In April, the Far North District Council refused consent and Mr Hodgkinson is now appealing the decision to the Planning Tribunal. He criticised DoC for using planning mechanisms to place obstacles in the way of economic development. Forest and Bird will be supporting the council in fighting the appeal. The case would have been unnecessary if the government had delivered on its election promise to "end the clearfelling of native forest’’. Sadly, the proposed native forests legislation promises controls in two to four years on logging for timber, but not on clearance for farmland.