By Philippa Stevenson
PUREORA - The giant totara trees in Pureora Forest were one of the few things alive at the dawn of this millennium, but conservationists warn their deaths may mark the next.
In the King Country yesterday, veteran logging protester Stephen King climbed one of the 1000-year-old trees and symbolically
released three carrier pigeons in an attempt to send a message to the Government.
Taped to the leg of one bird was a key.
"It's the message we want to send to Bill Birch [the Treasurer] that the key to managing the forest will be the setting up of the Pureora Rainforest Trust," Mr King said.
Today the MP for Taranaki-King Country, Shane Ardern, will present a key to Mr Birch on the protesters' behalf.
The key also signifies the 21st anniversary of the 1978 tree-top sit-in by conservationists led by Mr King, then chairman of the Auckland branch of the Native Forest Action Council, which halted logging of the forest.
Yesterday, a banner hung from the tree Mr King climbed reading "World's No. 1 totara forest" and a violinist, Juliet Primrose, was hoisted into the branches to mark the anniversary by playing Happy Birthday.
Two generations of conservationists joined in. Several young members of Native Forest Action journeyed from their protest in the South Island West Coast beech forests.
Others, old enough to be their grandparents, were people whose names have been linked with conservation for decades.
Prominent Tauranga-based, Forest and Bird Society member Ann Grahame said Mr King's 1978 protest changed their lives.
"Before Stephen we sat and were sad that the forest was being chopped down but we didn't think we could do anything about it. We found people power," she said.
In 1978,her husband, Basil, began the Kaimai branch of the Native Forest Action Council when the couple became involved with the protesters after sending them a donation
Bill and Jan Drake of Taupo Forest and Bird said that 21 years ago they went to see the desecration caused by the logging Mr King highlighted.
"It was like a First World War battle zone with smoking and bulldozed trees. Kokako were everywhere because their homes were gone."
Pictured: Stephen King, sending a message to the Government, via pigeon-mail. HERALD PICTURE / BRENDON O'HAGAN
