Forest and Bird takes on King Country loggers

Forest and Bird, Issue 279, 1 February 1996, Page 4

Forest and Bird takes on King Country loggers

IN A CASE taken by Forest and Bird to the Planning Tribunal, the society has established some

important precedents on how local councils must consider applications for clearance of native vegetation. The case, decided late last year, was the first on the management of native forest under the Resource Management Act. Forest and Bird had objected to a logging application by a contractor, George Twist, who had wanted to fell 10,000 tonnes of rimu and other native timbers from an area of just 300 hectares at Matiere in the King Country. Under the transitional provisions of the Forests Amendment Act, this amounted to more than three quarters of the remaining allowable cut for the entire Manawatu-Wanganui Region. We argued that the application was simply forest destruction under the guise of selective logging, and took the Manawatu-Wanganui Regional Council, which had approved the application, to court. Although the tribunal did not rule out all logging in this instance — it accepted our view that it was an area of a significant indigenous vegetation, but was not convinced that it was a significant habitat for wildlife — it did lay down some important rules that will need to be followed by all other regional and district councils in considering applications to log native forest: » district plans have to control native forest logging and clearance; » regional councils need to impose sustainable manage-

ment requirements when considering consent applications for vegetation clearance (ie they are not limited to considering soil and water matters, an excuse several regional councils have used to allow clearance or logging of native forest); » any logging must be sustainable and controlled by an expertly prepared management plan; and » adverse effects on other elements of the forest such as forest structure and soil and water must be avoided as far as possible.

Forest and Bird was represented at the tribunal hearing by president, Jon Jackson. Basil Graeme and Duane Burtt gave evidence for the society as did consultants Dr Graeme Elliott (wildlife), Dr John Hawley (soils) and Dr John Bathgate (forestry).