Order out of chaos

the island nation had had enough of it. In 1987, New Zealand finally buried its forest service, one of its most enduring symbols of bureaucratic bungling; an unlikely alliance of environmentalists, economists and reformist politicians played the role of executioners. Out of the ashes emerged the department of conservation ( d o c ), charged solely with protecting native forests. Of the 5.2 million hectares (ha) it now safeguards, not one can be laid bare any longer for production purposes; there are, however, exceptions for cultural purposes (making Maori canoes, for instance).

The revolutionary concept that publicly-owned native forests could be managed by a department that would never cut down a tree was too radical for some to contemplate. For decades, environmentalists had battled the 65-year-old forest service over its policy of destroying native forests and replacing them with the exotic radiata pine trees, native to California. By the early '80s, economists and politicians too had become disillusioned with the financial performance of government departments which undertook 20 per cent of the country's investment but generated only 12 per cent of the national income. The forest service was no exception; in its last years, it had been running at a loss. In retrospect, the decision to dismantle it is seen as the right one, except by those foresters adversely affected by the changes or those who continue to believe in the service's philosophy.

That philosophy