Native Forest Action (NFA) was set up protect the publicly owned native forests of the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

of the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

from logging. The West Coast has extensive stands of virgin native forests and numerous organisations had lobbied for their protection. In 1986 the

West Coast Accord The West Coast Accord was an agreement signed on 6 November 1986 between government, industry and environmental organisations concerning the forests of the West Coast of New Zealand. The major focus of the Accord was for the sustainable yield o ...

was signed between environmental groups and government agencies. There was discord amongst other environmental groups since it was seen to be too much of a compromise towards the logging interests. This should be seen it light of the fact that New Zealand had lost approximately 75% of its original

forest cover Forest cover is the amount of forest that covers a particular area of land. It may be measured as relative (in percent) or absolute (in square kilometres/square miles). Around a third of the world's surface is covered with forest, with closed-canop ...

since human habitation. In 1997 the NFA campaign involved protesters setting up camps in the forest and

tree sitting Tree sitting is a form of environmentalist civil disobedience in which a protester sits in a tree, usually on a small platform built for the purpose, to protect it from being cut down (speculating that loggers will not endanger human lives by cutt ...

. In April 1997, one of these sites was deliberately destroyed by swinging a tree from a helicopter into it, allegedly without ensuring that it was fully clear of protesters. NFA had a campaign of

non-violent direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to othe ...

which gained it prominence in the media. The

New Zealand Labour Party The New Zealand Labour Party ( mi, Rōpū Reipa o Aotearoa), or simply Labour (), is a centre-left political party in New Zealand. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism, while observers descr ...

made an election promise in 1999 to halt the logging. One of the most controversial parts of campaign history was when a bomb was found on a helicopter used for logging. NFA, which had always maintained a policy of non-violence denied vigorously any links to the bomb, and no link was found. It is claimed that the release of the book ''Secrets and Lies'' by

Nicky Hager Nicky Hager (born 1958) is a New Zealand investigative journalist. He has produced seven books since 1996, covering topics such as intelligence networks, environmental issues and politics. He is one of two New Zealand members of the Internationa ...

prior to the 1999 general election had an influence on the election of the Labour Party. The book made detailed claims about an organised

smear campaign A smear campaign, also referred to as a smear tactic or simply a smear, is an effort to damage or call into question someone's reputation, by propounding negative propaganda. It makes use of discrediting tactics. It can be applied to individual ...

against NFA by

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

firm

Shandwick Shandwick ( gd, Seannduaig), a village near Tain in Easter Ross, and is in the Scottish council area of Highland, Scotland. Hilton, Balintore, and Shandwick are known collectively as the Seaboard Villages. It is well known because of the ne ...

on behalf of Timberlands West Coast, the company tasked with sustainably harvesting West Coast beech forests. The Labour/Alliance coalition government halted the logging and the land was transferred to the

Department of Conservation An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...

. NFA, which as an organisation always had a very informal structure, is now dormant.

References

{{Reflist

External links

NFA website
Environmental organisations based in New Zealand