Native Forest Action
What you can do to help
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It is easy to think that, while you detest the destruction of our precious native forests, there is nothing you as an individual can do. NOT SO! This page is aimed at enabling you to make a difference now.
One of the most important elements of any campaign is raising awareness. many people simply are not aware of the issue. You can help a great deal by just drawing people's attention to the fact that the government is endorsing the destruction of our precious heritage forests. It is something that effects everyone, and all future generations to come.
A good way you can raise awareness is to promote this website. The more people who come here and read the material the better! http://www.nfa.org.nz is the site's address - you can include it in every message that you send!
The Information Series by Dr Sean Weaver is also an excellent way of sharing information. If you click here we will send you a copy of it by email.
Join Native Forest Action - You can join Native Forest Action for free. There are groups in most major centres, and we always welcome people who want to get involved.
Support Native Forest Action Financially - Native Forest Action is a grass-roots organisation that exists on the strength of dedicated volunteers, fundraising, and contributions by concerned people. It is not cheap to run a campaign opposing a SOE such as Timberlands West Coast who have a PR budget of over $500,000 anually. Any contribution would be a great help. We now have a secure server by which you can make credit card donations - click here
Boycott Native Timber - In 1997, around 40,000 cubic metres of rimu was logged in New Zealand. Over half of it was used for furniture manufacture. The remainder went into flooring, joinery, mouldings and panelling (Consumer Magazine, August, 1998). If we stop buying products made from native timber there will be no market for native wood.
Write Letters - Writing letters is an easy and effective way of voicing your opinion. You can write to politicians (they have to write back to you), media (letters to the editor are good), send faxes to TV shows like Holmes, write letters and send faxes to Timberlands.
Tell me more...
Just contact one of these fine people
Auckland: Chris 09 378 1634 |
Wellington: Dean 04 383 5168 |
Nelson Nick Young, National Co-ordinator, Phone 03 545-6040 |
|
Christchurch: Jon Email |
West
Coast: Pete |
Dunedin Peter 03 479 0977 |
Click Here to Register Your Support
How to make financial contributions
You can send a cheque to:
Native Forest Action,
P O Box 836,
Nelson
New ZealandOr make a deposit into our bank account:
Westpac Trust
Oaks Branch,
WellingtonNative Forest Action Inc.
NFA Campaigner's Account;
030510 - 0773433 - 01Or use your credit-card via our secure server - click here -
If you want to set up a regular automatic payment contact Nick Young our National Co-ordinator via e-mail and ask for a pledge form to be sent to you.
If we don't buy it they can't sell it. If they can't sell it they won't chop it down.
It is very important to 'put our money where our mouths are'. Not many New Zealanders would not buy a duster made from kiwi feathers, or shoes made from tuatara skins, or a kaka foot key-ring - why? Because they are precious and endangered. Sitting on a rimu chair at a table made of kauri, or using a toilet brush with a rimu handle (yes they do make them out of rimu) is no different. In fact it is worse. To get that native timber we are destroying our virgin native forests. In and of themselves these forests are ecological treasures, but they are also the home of kiwi, kaka and many of our other cherished native fauna.
It is possible to buy furniture made from 'green friendly' native timber, either recycled or sourced from 'sustainably managed' native forests. BEWARE ! This is often a fraud:
- "Recycled" rimu in major furniture stores is often new wood "aged" to look like old.
- Furniture claiming to be made from "sustainably logged" timber is very likely to contain unsustainably logged timber as well.
- Some sustainability and recycled claims are little more than a marketing ploy to cash in on green consumerism. (Consumer Magazine, August, 1998).
The best option is to stay away from native timber altogether.
Alternatives
The green alternative is to buy products made from New Zealand grown plantation forests. There is New Zealand-grown eucalyptus and macrocarpa, douglas fir and pine readily available. With the right treatment these woods work and look as good as any native timber.
If you don't tell them they don't know you care.
Remember the pen can be mightier than the sword. By writing letters you can inform others. You can write letters to newspapers, magazines, politicians, television programs and even people you know.
You can write to: The Priminister Jenny Shipley, Minister of State Owned Enterprises Tony Ryall, Minster of Forestry, Lockwood Smith, Minister of Conservation, Nick Smith Minister of the Environment, Simon Upton Your local MP |
For Example: No Stamp Jenny Shipley |
These people are your representatives. They are responsible for our country. They are answerable to you. By law they have to reply to any letter sent to them by a citizen of New Zealand (so don't forget to put your name and address on the back of the envelope).
It is FREE to write a letter to Parliament!
These are some useful
points you can make:
|
A Sample Letter to the Editor Sir, I don't think many new Zealanders realise the implication of buying native beech, kahikatea, kauri, and rimu products, be it bed, coffee table or the timber itself. Most rimu and beech comes from the South Island. These are trees that grow for up to 800 years. The forests they make up form the habitat (or seasonal habitat0 for South Island Kakas, keas, kakarikis and our glorious red and yellow flowered mistletoes. A state owned company, Timberlands West Coast Ltd. is planning to "sustainable" log 70 000 hectares of beech forest. The methods it proposes to use will severely reduce the habitat needed for these and other creatures. It is estimated that 500 South Island kakas remain. Destroying their homes cannot do anything but speed up their extinction. I would like to encourage people to boycott native timbers to ensure a chance for these creatures' existence, and instead make use of plantation trees. Dean Mercer Berhampore |
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