Conservation Minister restarted native logging against advice

Conservation Minister Nick Smith ignored scientific and technical advice when he pushed through law changes to allow logging on West Coast conservation land, the Green Party said today.

New information released to TVNZ shows that the Department of Conservation (DOC) was critical of proposals to allow logging in West Coast native forests, which are protected as conservation land.

“DOC clearly advised that logging was a high risk and would adversely impact to conservation values. DOC advised that logging would affect forest ecology, remove food sources for birds, and change natural forest succession processes," said Green Party conservation spokesperson Eugenie Sage.

"National cannot be trusted to protect our treasured places and public conservation lands or listen to sound science.

“Our conservation land is supposed to be protected, yet National has opened it up for mining, and now logging.

“DOC also advised the Minister that selling fallen timber to fund pest control would not result in a conservation net benefit,”

“DOC highlighted that it would need to do more than just some pest control, and that the pest control proposed would be helping species that were not impacted by the logging.

“Clearly the Minister had decided to upend the 30-year consensus that conservation land should be protected from logging, and ignore the scientific advice of his department.

“New Zealanders fought for years to end logging on public land and to protect our rimu and beech forests. National has turned back the clock to the destructive practices of the 1980s and 1990s," said Ms Sage.

“The DOC briefing note makes it clear that under National, DOC and MPI have been investigating opening up protected areas on conservation land for logging since at least 2012. The windthrow caused by Cyclone Ita was just a convenient excuse for the Minister to push legislation through Parliament to change our conservation law to allow logging.

Volunteer

The Greens are proud to be driven by passionate people like you. Today we need your help to take action on the biggest issues facing New Zealand.

Action

Save Auckland's Climate Budget

Sign the petition to stop Mayor Wayne Brown's proposal for dangerous cuts to climate and environmental programmes that protect us from extreme weat...

Action

No New Mines 2023

Action

Expand Voting

Now more than ever, young people in Aotearoa are impacted by Government decisions, and they deserve to have a say. We are calling on all Members of...

Action

End Intensive Winter Grazing

Sign the petition to Labour Ministers, to move faster in bringing regulations into force and end intensive winter grazing.

Action

Trains for Climate

Add your name to our open letter urging the Minister for Finance Grant Robertson to save our passenger trains between Wellington, the Wairarapa and...

Action

Healthy Oceans 2022

Join our Healthy Oceans Crew to help us keep the health and protection of our oceans high on the Labour Government’s political agenda.

Action

It's time: A Ministry for Rainbow Communities

Join our call asking the Prime Minister to establish a Ministry for Rainbow Communities that can champion Rainbow issues.

Action

No new mines on conservation land

Sign the open letter asking Labour Ministers to stick to their promise of banning new mining projects on conservation land.

Action

Allow community ownership of our buses

Public transport is an essential service and helps to tackle the climate crisis by reducing our carbon emissions. But there are barriers to communi...

Action

Local Events

We have activists across Aotearoa / New Zealand who are working hard to build a brighter future for our kids and grandkids. This page lists upcomin...

Latest Environment Announcements

Story

Forestry sector must compensate for slash damage

The Green Party welcomes today’s release of the report of the Ministerial Inquiry into slash and sediment, and are clear that the forestry industry...

Greens launch petition to protect conservation lands from mining by Mineralogy International Limited

The Green Party has today launched a petition calling for conservation land to be protected from mining by big overseas companies such as Mineralog...

National's drought of ideas won't help farmers facing climate change

Christopher Luxon and the National Party have once again presented another lazy, back-of-the-napkin policy to Aotearoa.

Freshwater crisis needs stronger government action

New Zealand’s rivers, lakes and freshwater are in crisis and there needs to be a more ambitious Government plan to clean them up and protect agains...

Greens welcome waste strategy release and work

The Green Party is today welcoming the release of the Government’s waste strategy, but says it has a big gap without action on the container return...

NZ needs strong protection against water privatisation

New Zealanders deserve strong protection against the future privatisation of water assets, the Green Party says.