Legislation to allow recovery of indigenous timber from some protected areas affected by West Coast (South Island) cyclone event: Regulatory Impact Statement
This Regulatory Impact Statement has been prepared by the Department of Conservation to provide an analysis of options for the management of timber harvest from South Island West Coast forests on public conservation land recently affected by cyclonic winds (Cyclone Ita). Published June 2014

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Legislation to allow recovery of indigenous timber from some protected areas affected by West Coast (South Island) cyclone event (PDF, 212K)

Summary

An analysis of options for the management of timber harvest is provided in this Regulatory Impact Statement.  

A recent cyclone (in mid-April 2014) has caused significant windfall on the West Coast. The Minister of Conservation wishes to allow some timber recovery from some categories of protected area, with the income used for conservation purposes. He also wishes to use the event as an opportunity to research the ecological effect of timber recovery, to allow the potential for harvest in future to be better assessed. 

The Minister has proposed new legislation to overcome some limitations in the existing legislation.