Heritage forests breathe life into West Coast

Tourism has become a major focus on the West Coast as calm descends over its once controversial, forever majestic, native forests. PHILIP ENGLISH reports.

Ancient native forests saved from logging on the West Coast of the South Island are now having their futures mapped out - as additions to national parks, scenic reserves, amenity areas and wildlife refuges.

More than 130,000ha of forests formerly under the control of state-owned Timberlands West Coast will become Department of Conservation land following the Government's promise to stop the logging of publicly owned West Coast native forests.

It is hoped that protecting the forests will boost the West Coast economy, which is showing signs of growth.

A National Bank survey for the three months to March 31 found the region had the highest rises nationally in retail sales and accommodation guest nights. For year-on-year growth, the West Coast was second only to Otago.



Westland District Council Mayor John Drylie said ending the logging had hurt the Coast community and people had lost jobs.

"It still hurts, but our council is convinced we cannot simply look at the past. We have to move and find other ways in which our district can grow."

West Coast councils got $120 million from the Government as compensation for adjusting to the end of native logging.

The four councils each received $7 million, and have put $92 million into a development trust.

Mr Drylie said Westland now hoped to capitalise on its natural beauty and environment.

The logging was a controversial election issue in 1999, just as it was in the mid-1970s when the growing conservation movement forced the old Forest Service to shelve plans to clear-fell other large areas of publicly owned West Coast native forests.

Included then were ancient rimu stands in the North Okarito Forest bounded by the Okarito Lagoon and home to a nearby colony of kotuku or white heron.

These became the symbol of the conservation campaign - and are now a major local tourist attraction.

The 5600ha area will now almost certainly be added to the 118,000ha Westland-Tai Poutini National Park and the Unesco South West New Zealand World Heritage Area.

It is also shelters the Okarito kiwi, identified as a distinct variety of kiwi in 1993 and, with about 140 left, battling extinction.

Elsewhere, conservation parks covering thousands of hectares have been recommended for West Coast communities near Westport and Greymouth, and the Paparoa National Park behind the famous Punakaiki pancake rocks will be enlarged significantly.

Dr Gerry McSweeney, a member of the panel which assessed the conservation value of the Timberlands native forests for the Government, said the protection of the forests was the culmination of 30 years of effort to protect the best lowland forest left.

"To put it in context, half of New Zealand's remaining indigenous forests are found on the West Coast of the South Island," said Dr McSweeney, who is also president of the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society.

Twenty-nine forests will be taken over by DoC, which will get an additional $1 million a year for the job.

The forests contain rare and threatened wildlife such as the great spotted kiwi, kaka, kereru, kea, weka, karearea (NZ falcon) and large land snails as well as a large number of historic and archaeological sites dating back to pioneering sawmilling and goldmining days.



Twenty per cent of the new conservation land will become national park additions subject to approval required from the Conservation Authority.



Many of the forests are small or scattered, but that makes them important as buffer zones and as links between more extensive areas of forest already managed by the department.

Dr McSweeney said Aucklanders could take a lot of the credit for protecting the native forests.

"This would not have happened if it had not been for support north of the Bombay Hills. Aucklanders made thousands of submissions over the years ... It wasn't just a West Coast issue. It was a national issue. I can only encourage Aucklanders to get down there and visit."

While conservationists have welcomed the protection of the forests, they are less keen about continued logging by Timberlands in the Okarito and Saltwater forests until March 31 next year.

They are also concerned about the future of limestone caves, many filled with fossils of long-extinct animals, in some forests. The use of Westland's limestone resources is being reviewed.

* The panel's review is available on the Department of Conservation website. Click on What's new, then Issues.