Government snubs award to Timberlands

Eric Roy

National Conservation Spokesperson

2 August 2000

Government snubs award to Timberlands

"It is appalling that the Government has smugly condoned a DOC decision to boycott an environmental award which acknowledged the merits of sustainable rimu logging," National's Conservation Spokesperson Eric Roy said today.

"In Parliament today Conservation Minister Sandra Lee confirmed that the Director General of Conservation and the West Coast regional conservator blacklisted the awards - a decision Ms Lee said she supports.

"The boycott was decreed when DOC staff discovered Timberlands had won a "Most Meritorious Project" award for its sustainable rimu logging in the Saltwater and Okarito forests on the West Coast.

"Judges from the West Coast Tai Poutini Conservation Board and the West Coast Regional Council had unanimously agreed on the award.

"It's outrageous that the head of DOC is doing backflips simply to ingratiate himself with Ms Lee and her anti-logging colleagues.

"From day one this Government has approached the issue of West Coast logging from a purely ideological standpoint, aimed at winning over the Green vote.

"Now, when awards recognising 'ecological worth' pay tribute to Timberlands, this Government tries to pretend it never happened. It's a case of 'There are none so blind as those who will not see'.

"The Government isn't fooling anyone with this childish ruse," Eric Roy said. "Pretending that sustainable logging doesn't work won't make the facts go away."

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