Buller Devastation

Forest and Bird, Issue 292, 1 May 1999, Page 3

Buller Devastation

I wonder if members are aware of the degree of devastation caused to Buller native forest by stateowned Timberlands West Coast. In its propaganda, TWC claims to ‘love’ the forest, ‘care for’ the forest, and enhance wildlife habitat. But in the area of the Buller ‘overcut’ they are stripping the forest of rimu from centuries-old giants to baby trees only 20 centimetres (8 inches) through at the top of the log. Everything millable is taken. In a recent inspection by Native Forest Action, Forest and Bird and Buller Conservation Group, we saw a huge rimu felled and chopped in three ready to be helicoptered out. Beneath this forest is the cave containing a whale skeleton which was filmed by the Jacques Cousteau team, and not far away a magnificent limestone arch which rivals those at Oparara in Kahurangi National Park. The forest is home to kiwi and kaka.

The tragedy of the Buller logging, which is agreed by all sides to be unsustainable, is that already there is ample exotic forest nearby ready for milling, so no jobs need be lost. The rimu plunder is all about fattening up Timberlands West Coast for sale to a multinational. Peter Lusk, email