Manawatu Forest and Bird says the Palmerston North City Council is running an unfair consultation process over the proposed wind farm at Turitea.

Forest and Bird will make a submission against the proposal, but branch chairman Brent Barrett questions the assumption the council will give it fair consideration.

"Palmerston North city councillors will vote on acceptance or rejection of their own idea, with a considerable amount of money changing hands if they give their approval. We are deeply concerned about the integrity of that process."

Mr Barrett said the branch believes wind farms belong on farms, not on the Turitea Reserve.

He said the proposed 60-turbine wind farm, to be built on the reserve by the Palmerston North City Council and Mighty River Power, will destroy valuable forest habitat.

"Wind farms in paddocks are fine, but ripping into native forest lands to build an industrial-scale wind farm is a different story. . . We shouldn't be sacrificing conservation land on the altar of power-hungry urban centres. There are many suitable alternative sites for wind farms. . .

"Turitea's forest, ridgelines, wetlands and lakes comprise by far the best example of native habitat in the area, in terms of scale, quality and biodiversity."

The reserve is the last natural bush-clad ridge line visible from Palmerston North, and the wind farm would dominate the landscape on the south side of the city, he says.

The council is calling for submissions on changing the Turitea Management Plan to allow wind turbines on the reserve.

The reserve includes miro, matai, kahikatea, kamahi, rata and rimu, and a 2004 survey found 260 plant species and 28 bird species there, including New Zealand falcon, bellbirds, tui, kereru, morepork, shag, heron and kingfisher.

Forest and Bird has campaigned to establish a "mainland island" in the reserve, and believes that this, if left intact, could support the reintroduction of 14 locally extinct species, Mr Barrett says.

"Wind farm development would make a mainland island untenable."

The wind farm would need roads along ridgelines, which would require substantial clearing of rejuvenating native forest, Mr Barrett says.

The council is looking at building an eco park in the reserve, and says such a park would have three benefits for the city in the fields of recreation, tourism and the environment.

But that won't mitigate the damage to the reserve, Forest and Bird committee member Donald Kerr says.

The plan allows 60 percent of the reserve for the wind farm, and calls for the bulldozing of big tracks, he says.

Forest and Bird was not opposed to the wind farm until its members saw the scale of the project, he says.

"The scale is huge. We (imagined) a few wind turbines along existing tracks. The map they have come out with shows every high spot and ridge potentially allowing a wind turbine."