6 December 2004
Urgent law change needed to plug logging legal loophole
The Green Party is today pushing for the Government to pass special legislation before Christmas to close the disastrous
legal loophole that is allowing rimu logging on DOC land in the Whanganui River Valley.
Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons is also calling on DOC to carry out an urgent stocktake to establish which other areas of
high-value conservation forest around the country are still subject to such logging contracts.
"The Whanganui clear felling of ancient rimu has fallen through a crack between two laws and Parliament may be the only
remedy.
"The Greens campaigned in 1999 to stop the logging of the West Coast beech forests and the Okarito and Saltwater forests
in south Westland. One of the first acts of the incoming Labour Government, supported by the Greens, was to halt that
logging, with some contracts allowed a phase-out period.
"New Zealanders have believed ever since that all logging on lands owned by the public has ended; no wonder people are
today outraged at what is happening in the Whanganui. We don't expect logging of ancient forests to be happening in the
21st century.
"Somehow the Whanganui forest escaped from the policy intent and the public needs to be reassured that there are no
other forests in this category, and if there are, they need to be brought within the law."
The principle behind the present law is that there shall be no native logging on public land at all and that such
cutting on private land must be under a sustainable management plan that ensures that only timber equivalent in volume
to the annual growth rate of the forest is taken. The 1993 amendment to the Forests Act stopped all clear felling of
native forest on private land and required sustainable management. The only exception was land held under the South
Island Landless Natives Act 1906 (SILNA) and these lands were finally dealt with earlier this year.
"While some compensation might have previously been due to the very inappropriately named 'Wildlife Properties', they
are not owed anything now if they are found to have breached the council's rules limiting clear felling to half a
hectare a year. In any case, compensation for the full value of the timber would be outrageously unfair, given that no
compensation was given to private owners whose logging was earlier restricted or to Timberlands whose logging rights
were cancelled in 1999.
"This is a situation where protection of these ancient forests and their wildlife for their own sake and for our
children's children must be the primary goal," said Ms Fitzsimons.
ENDS