edHelper.com
The 2000's
Caring for Earth
Rainforest Logging Banned in New Zealand



Rainforest Logging Banned in New Zealand
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   9.41

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    tourism, gradual, conservation, original, banned, cutting, locally, phase-out, carbon, timber, leads, organization, protesters, presented, especially, better
     content words:    New Zealand, Native Forest Action, Labor Party, Helen Clark, Prime Minister, United States


Print Rainforest Logging Banned in New Zealand
     Print Rainforest Logging Banned in New Zealand  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)


Quickly Print - PDF format
     Quickly Print: PDF (2 columns per page)

     Quickly Print: PDF (full page)


Quickly Print - HTML format
     Quickly Print: HTML


Proofreading Activity
     Print a proofreading activity


Feedback on Rainforest Logging Banned in New Zealand
     Leave your feedback on Rainforest Logging Banned in New Zealand  (use this link if you found an error in the story)



Rainforest Logging Banned in New Zealand
By Sharon Fabian
  

1     In the year 2000, New Zealand banned the logging of timber in the temperate rainforest along its west coast. This rainforest had been under the control of the government-owned logging company, Timberlands, for years. Timberlands cut down the trees, some as old as 500 years, for lumber and for woodchips used to make paper. The new laws passed in 2000 transferred control of the lands to national parks and conservation areas. It allowed two years for a gradual phase-out of logging operations on its 300,000 acres of old-growth rainforest.
 
2     This ban on rainforest logging followed many years of work by environmentalists in New Zealand. These activists had been at work ever since a large logging operation began in the west coast rainforests in the 1970s. Since there were other people who depended on the logging operation for jobs, the environmentalists faced many challenges. Their work was dangerous; some activists were injured and others were arrested.
 
3     Because they felt that it was so important to end the logging of old-growth rainforests, the environmentalists continued their protests despite the opposition. A new organization, Native Forest Action, led the way.
 
4     They presented arguments about why preserving the rainforests was so important. They argued that loss of the rainforests would also mean the loss of a habitat for endangered species. Rainforests are home to as many as half of the species of plants and animals on earth.

Paragraphs 5 to 13:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable


Copyright © 2009 edHelper