Misleading assessment of vegetation loss

Forest & Bird regional manger Sue Maturin is misleading and selective in her comments on the ‘‘alarming’’ rate of vegetation loss in the Southland District.

The Journal of Ecology study that she refers to does not include the Fiordland National Park or Rakiura Stewart Island, nor does it include wetlands that have been remediated in the district.

Loss of wetland areas are a prime concern for Forest & Bird and yet natural wetlands emit a significant amount of methane into the atmosphere, equivalent to sheep and beef farming, which must be an ironic position for Forest & Bird to justify.

Sue Maturin disputes the significant cost of $18 million that SDC and ultimately the ratepayers of the district will need to fund, for the implementation of the National Policy Statement on Indigenous Biodiversity.

Surveying ‘‘small Forest & Bird regional remnants of native manger Sue Maturin. vegetation and habitats on private land’’, spread over 3.1m hectares of Southland District is an insurmountable and costly task well in excess of $18m. More importantly there is no reasoned justification or need for such a proposal.

Indigenous forest and vegetation accounts for 57 per cent of the Southland District area and 97 per cent of this area is currently protected under conservation status.

By way of comparison the indigenous forest and vegetation cover on a national basis is 27 per cent of total land area.

The Southland District indigenous biodiversity is well controlled and protected under current legislation, through the Resource Management Act, the Forest Act, the Conservation Act and numerous other ministries and regulatory bodies.

Infringing on private property rights and ultimately placing caveats on individual properties is not warranted nor justified under this type of environmental legislation.

Bernie Lagan, of Tuatapere