Back to the 70s

Forest and Bird, Issue 292, 1 May 1999, Page 5

Back to the 70s

—Kevin Smith.

ative forest is being stripped off the hill country north of Wanganui in a forestry scheme designed to attract investment from Taiwanese immigrants. In scenes reminiscent of the forest ‘battlegrounds’ of the1970s, huge roller crushers plummet down steep slopes smashing the protective cover of freely regenerating native forest. This is happening in the catchment of the already stressed Waitotara River — its waters laden with silt from weeping slips on the surrounding cleared hill country. The forest clearance has the blessing of the Taranaki Regional Council which the forestry media describe as adopting a ‘pragmatic approach’ to environmental issues. The New Zealand Forestry Group’s managing director, Wesley Garrat — a former immigration consultant — has marketed the forestry scheme to Taiwanese immigrants who hold individual 20-hectare titles. The company’s Paparangi Station straddles the boundary between the Taranaki and Manawatu-

Wanganui regional councils, and between the South Taranaki and Wanganui district councils. Wesley Garrat praises the Taranaki local authorities for their having a different attitude to native forest clearance from their Wanganui counterparts. His company has been blocked from clearing native forest on its land which lies within the Wanganui River catchment. The Manawatu-Wanganui Regional Council’s soil conservator, Alan Kirk, said he did not believe commercial forestry would be feasible on the upper slopes of the block which are consolidated sandstone with little top soil. ‘T think there’s a potential for an

environmental hazard occurring because the soils are not proven sustainable forestry soils, he says. The resource management director of the Taranaki Regional Council, Bill Bayfield, defends the clearance. He describes it as a model forestry project with good environmental management. Because Taranaki local authorities do not require resource consents for forest clearance, there is no opportunity for public submissions on the development and for the impacts to be properly assessed against the requirements of the Resource Management Act. The Department of Conservation has identified the area as

providing habitat for a range of native birds including kiwi. Forest and Bird’s Wanganui Branch spokesperson, Derek Schulz, says the clearance looks more like a scene from Indonesia than from a country that claims to be at the leading edge of sustainable management. He said because the New Zealand Forestry Group were not members of the New Zealand Forest Owners’ Association, they were not bound by the Forest Accord. He feared further native forest clearance would occur in the Taranaki area because of the absence of land clearance rules and the reliance on voluntary conservation initia-

tives.