Catlins Block May be Logged in New Zealand
9/23/99
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Title: Catlins Block May be Logged in New Zealand
Source: The Southland Times
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: September 23, 1999
BALCLUTHA -- Owners of the Cathedral Caves block could decide within
months whether to log their Catlins forest, Cathedral Caves block
trustee Ted Palmer said yesterday.
Ten days ago, trustees of the Maori-owned land used 10-tonne rocks to
block access across their land to the caves, a major Catlins tourist
attraction.
Mr Palmer said the caves access was a lever to hurry negotiations
with the crown about protecting forest on South Island Landless
Natives Act (Silna) land, and about historical grievances.
It was a preferable bargaining tool to "starting the chainsaw" on the
forest, he said.
Yesterday, there were no signs the issue was any closer to being
resolved.
The rocks would stay and a trespass order would remain in force until
the crown moved faster, Mr Palmer said.
"The ball's in their court."
Negotiator George McMillan last week said negotiations could not
start until the trust signed a logging moratorium.
Mr Palmer said some clauses in the moratorium document removed rights
other than logging and he wanted them deleted. Owners wanted their
forest protected in return for just compensation but after years of
fruitless negotiations some were reaching a watershed, he said.
They needed money to sustain themselves and provide an education for
their children.
Logging would provide a better income than the crown was offering, Mr
Palmer said.
An owners' meeting will probably be called within a few months to
vote on the issue.
If logging gets the nod it will start immediately.
The 443ha Cathedral Caves block between the Southern Scenic Route and
Waipati Beach is a mixture of cut-over and virgin podocarp forest.
Logging will aim for the greatest return and that means pristine
forest will go.
However, virgin forest lining the walking track to the caves would
not be touched, he said.
Papotowai Forest Heritage Trust trustee Mary Sutherland said she
could understand Silna owners' frustration over the slowness of
negotiations.
The issue had been alive since the land was granted to dispossessed
Maori in 1906, she said.
The forest was worth preserving, and for the public good, the crown
must be prepared to pay adequate compensation to safeguard it, she
said.
When the crown announced its logging moratorium package in July,
owners of Catlins Silna forest she had talked to had been optimistic
about the crown's intent.
Disillusionment had set in as they started talking to crown
officials, she said.