Greenpeace trees pulled out by land owners

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Over 1000 trees planted today by 30 Greenpeace volunteers in a central North Island block of land have been pulled out.

The volunteers began at 7.30am today to "re-forest" around 1600 square metres of land that had been cleared for dairy farming.

Greenpeace climate campaigner Simon Boxer said the re-planting campaign was aimed at drawing more attention to the large amounts of forestry land in the Tahorakuri Forest, northeast of Taupo, being converted to dairy farming.

But state owned Landcorp chief executive Chris Kelly which leased the land said the trees had been removed soon after the volunteers left.

"The owners of the land have taken some action, the trees have gone and as I understand it the trees are being donated to a local group," he said.

Mr Kelly said Landcorp didn't own the land, "and it's not our issue".

The land was owned by a group of Auckland businessmen called Kiwi Forests Ltd, who bought it from Fletcher Forests about five years ago.

"The owners have taken action, Greenpeace left peacefully, there were no dramas or issues," he told NZPA.

Greenpeace communications manager Suzette Jackson said police had arrived mid-morning, and warned the volunteers against trespassing further.

"We left then because we weren't trying to get our team arrested, and we managed to plant all our trees.

"It's good to hear they're not going to go in and rip them out, that they will be able to be planted somewhere else," Ms Jackson said.

Mr Boxer said the re-planting was a mixture of exotic plantation, with more sustainable types of trees, as well as a native reserve.

"It's small compared to the sheer scale of destruction up there," Mr Boxer said.

He described the action as low-key and non-confrontational.

"It's not a traditional Greenpeace action. Since we're just starting to work on the agricultural issues, specially on dairy conversion, we want to start off a lot more calmly."

Forestry was being replaced with one of the most greenhouse gas-intensive industries possible and emissions in New Zealand were increasing dramatically as a result, he said.

"Ministry of Agriculture reports say that throughout the whole of New Zealand, some 450,00 hectares of forestry land is at risk of being converted. That's a huge area."

- NZPA