Land-for-logging-rights swap deal falls through

A possible swap of land for logging rights has fallen through and logger Chris Bergman says he's determined to carry on felling trees at Taunoka Conservation Area.
Mr Bergman's company felled about 100 trees on the conservation land in November and was prevented from felling more or milling the timber by Environment Court injunctions taken out by Wanganui District Council in January.
He had hoped a deal to swap the logging rights for low-value conservation land would put an end to the legal wrangle.
But Wanganui conservator Bill Carlin said the 1200ha of conservation land Mr Bergman wanted, which is in the headwaters of the Moeawatea River inland from Waverley, had conservation values too high to be traded.
"It had mature bush and regenerating forest. It would almost certainly be a good area for wildlife, and there would probably be kiwi there," Mr Carlin said.
Mr Bergman was disappointed the deal could not be done and said the 1200ha was the only parcel of conservation land he wanted.
"There's nothing now they can do, unless they want to come out with their chequebook."
Both sides said they were open to a cash deal for the logging rights to the 200ha Taunoka block, which lies in the remote Whanganui River hinterland, west of Pipiriki.
However, agreeing on a value would be difficult. It would depend on interpretation of a rule in Wanganui's district plan, and agreement on the commercial costs and processes as timber is milled and sold.
The parties had already been down the cash settlement track before the logging issue became public, with DoC offering $450,000 for the rights, and Mr Bergman saying that was ridiculously low.
"That's half the value of the first cut."
He believed he was legally entitled to cut more every year until March 2010.
A third party to the dispute is the Wanganui District Council, which was unavailable for comment yesterday.
Mr Carlin said DoC was not involved in the council's legal action against Mr Bergman for breaching the district plan rule, but would probably join it "because it affects not just Mr Bergman but other loggers considering clearing".
Mr Bergman said he was a stubborn man and had an Auckland QC who was looking to overturn the injunctions preventing him moving or milling the felled trees. He said he had the money to defend his position and people who were willing to back him.
He was determined to carry on logging at Taunoka, and said there were four provisions in the Forest Amendment Act that would enable him to do it: the ability to cut firewood, the ability to take timber for his own use, the ability to take wood for carving and the ability to fell trees and mill them with a chainsaw.