NEW ZEALAND: Silna logging appealed
Copyright 2001 The Southland Times (New Zealand)
September 25, 2001
THE Forest and Bird Society has appealed the Southland District Council decision to give the Waitutu Paiki Trust approval to log native timber from 113ha of the Waitutu Forest in Western Southland.
Environment Court registry manager Wayne Dougherty said it was unlikely the appeal would be heard this year. No Environment Court judge would be back in Invercargill until next year. Forest and Bird had said in its appeal it wanted the application to be declined.
It was appealing on the grounds the decision to remove timber would not promote sustainable management of natural resources under the Resource Management Act (RMA).
Forest and Bird southern conservation officer Sue Maturin said the decision to allow logging did not recognise the natural character of the coastal environment, its outstanding natural features, landscapes and significant indigenous vegetation in the area.
The council had a responsibility under the RMA to protect outstanding features and landscapes, which it was shying away from by shifting the responsibility to the government, she said.
The appeal would also question whether a member of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's indigenous forest unit should have been involved in the hearing.
Waitutu Paiki Trust chairman Pat Timaru said the appeal was another encumbrance to the trust.
The trust had spent more than seven years trying to negotiate a compensation package for the land with the government. The appeal meant progress would be held up even longer, he said.
The trust was investigating ways of getting a hearing sooner including asking a district court or Maori Land Court judge to hear the case.
The land was granted to dispossessed Maori as part of the South Island Landless Native Act 1906 (Silna) to earn a livelihood.
Mr Timaru said the trust had not received any money from the land so far. Now they had offers from contractors prepared to pay up to $ 800 a cubic metre for rimu logs from the area. Logging meant the trust could earn up to $ 6 million from the rimu, he said.
The land was also valuable because of its location in a national park and the trust would want any compensation package to take these issues into consideration, he said.