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British environmentalist David Bellamy is returning to New Zealand to celebrate the anniversary of a victory for conservationists at a park he coined "Dinosaur Forest".
Dr Bellamy will be the guest of honour at Whirinaki 25, a community event in September to celebrate the quarter century since conservationists won the right to protect native trees within Whirinaki Forest Park, 100km southeast of Rotorua.
Dr Bellamy envisioned the forest becoming a mecca for world eco-tourism.
"It was this vision that helped swing opinion in the way of the conservationists and saw the protection of New Zealand's best remaining tract of lowland podocarp forest," a Department of Conservation spokesman said.
"The giant kahikatea, miro, totara, matai and rimu still standing untouched in the park today bear testimony to the dispute and in part at least to Bellamy's efforts to wedge himself in the thick of things.
" ... his return for the Whirinaki 25 will offer a chance to reflect on the promises of the 1980s, to assess what has been achieved and to forecast what the forest's future might hold."
Dr Bellamy is a "passionate opponent" of the human-induced global warming theory.
- NZPA
