The costs and benefits of conservation versus logging of old-growth native forest: A case history

Abstract

Pureora Forest Park is one of the largest remaining and most ecologically and culturally significant areas of the native forest that once clothed almost all the North Island of New Zealand. Systematic logging and the establishment of sawmilling villages began in the Pureora area in the late 1940s. Concern about the effects of logging of virgin forest on native fauna accelerated until 1978, when a widely publicised tree-sitting protest led to a forced moratorium. The settlement that followed stopped the logging, closed the sawmills, and caused mass local unemployment and social conflict. The long-term solution required an integrated approach, reconciling the needs of economic resource utilisation with those of social welfare and biodiversity conservation. This paper describes the processes leading up to the unprecedented financial settlement that saved the forest, plus the details of the compensation package paid to timber companies for broken contracts, and the consequent benefits for conservation and tourism.