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Conservation week – lords of the forest

Kevin Hague — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 05:17:02 +0000

Tane Mahuta, lord of the forest. A tree that is truly magnificent, along with Te Matua Ngahere, father of the forest, who is our second largest Kauri. Estimated to be over 2000 years old, this means that it is possible that it lived through the large Taupo eruption of 180CE. Both trees grow in the Waipoua Forest in Northland. As early as the late 1940s there was a campaign to save some of the remaining Kauri Forest in Northland into the protection of a National Park. Unfortunately the Forest Service (replaced by DoC and the NZ Forestry Corporation in 1987) was both canny, and somewhat more preoccupied with protecting the forests under its possession so that they could be harvested than preserving our crown jewels. They moved before support would have seen the creation of a national park and created the Waipoua Forest Sanctuary. Wouldn’t it be great to see the early work of Roy McGregor finished with Waipoua gaining National Park status? Currently we have no National Parks in the far North and Waipoua would seem to be the ideal candidate to remedy that.

While DoC ponders the National Park Question our great Kauri are under threat. Kauri dieback , caused by a fungus-like plant pathogen, is threatening our greatest trees. While the exact origin of the disease is unknown it is likely that it’s like Didymo a foreign invader. As our climate changes we need to be prepared to mitigate and prevent more pests, invasive species and diseases gaining a foothold in New Zealand. That is why we want to see more effort invested into becoming more proactive with our biosecurity.

Podcast: Mining our Sacred Places

frog — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:28:45 +0000

The National Government are poised to do the unthinkable — open up our most treasured places, our national parks and reserves — to mining. Can they be serious? Didn’t we have this fight 100 years ago? Do New Zealanders really believe that no place is sacred if there’s a goldmine or a coalmine sitting underneath it? I talked to a number of Green MPs to find out why they treasure our last remaining wild spaces.

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Mining Milford Sound?

frog — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:36:30 +0000

Here’s an amusing written question from Metiria Turei to the Minister of Conservation:

Q: Will he rule out of the review of Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act any consideration of mining potential in Milford Sound; if not, why not?
A: All national parks are encompassed by the review of Schedule 4 of the Crown Minerals Act. Until that review is complete I cannot say which areas will be given further consideration for inclusion or exclusion under Schedule 4.

We know Milford Sound is covered by the review, but Tim couldn’t quite bring himself himself to give the exact answer:

A: No I will not rule it out. Milford Sound is in Fiordland National Park which is included in Schedule 4, so it is encompassed by the Review.

Funnily enough, I’m pretty sure there’s no minerals there of interest anyway (unless you want granite to cap old open cast coalmines).

The Press, Tuesday 6 October 2009

Ministers have played down speculation about removing sections of National Parks from Schedule 4, only to have your Ministerial advice describe some National Park areas as “highly prospective”, and even tagging three of them by name:

MED considers that conservation land within the Coromandel Peninsula (precious metals), Kahurangi (precious and base metals), Waitutu (petroleum) and eastern Paparoa (coal) to be worthy of inclusion in such a review.

Minister Brownlee has been at pains to say he’s been completely open about it all, yet we had to get his Ministerial advice — which is obviously of intense public interest — under the OIA.

His main response has been that Metiria is being “hysterical”. Name-calling isn’t my idea of open and honest debate.

But ‘openness’ is a facade. In the House a few week’s ago, he refused to answer an oral question; now he won’t answer written ones. This one sought the exact report he was referring to, to confirm we were referring to the right one:

Q: What is the name, author(s), and date of publication of the World Bank report he referred to in his “Opening Address to Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy 2009″?
A: The member has clearly read the report given she has referred to parts of it in written and oral questions.

All in all, Brownlee’s bullish attitude just leads to cartoons like the above, why mythical oil wells in Milford Sound.

John Key must be scratching his head.