KEY POINTS:
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) officials have withdrawn charges of illegal timber harvesting against a helicopter company and one of its directors.
As a result of evidence presented this week at a Taumarunui District Court hearing, MAF withdrew the prosecution.
The charges were dismissed, said Robert Miller, manager of MAF's sustainable programmes operations.
MAF had earlier successfully prosecuted landowner Eric Nutbeam and logger Arthur Bergman over the related removal of native trees from a property in Manson's Siding near National Park.
Mr Bergman this month pleaded guilty to milling in excess of the 50 cubic metres approved at the property .
He said he opted not to defend the case as it would have cost him $30,000 in legal fees.
A $4000 fine agreed with the prosecution in that case meant the two defendants paid only a total of $6000 in fines and costs.
Mr Bergman said today the same MAF witnesses who would have testified against him were the basis of the case against the helicopter operator.
He said the three-year investigation related to an alleged over harvest of 22 cubic metres, about three trees.
Mr Nutbeam was in October last year convicted in the same court of taking more timber than allowed under the "personal use" approval and then selling it.
He was fined $700 and ordered to pay a further $1260 in costs.
Mr Miller said MAF took breaches of the Forests Act "very seriously".
"New Zealanders place significant value on our native forests - they are part of our cultural heritage," he said. "It is important that they are managed sustainably. The Forests Act is in place to ensure this."
- NZPA
