WAIPOUA'S FUTURE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 261, 3 November 1932, Page 20

WAIPOUA'S FUTURE.

CASE FOR PRESERVATION. A NATIONAL QUESTION. FACTS OF FOREST LIFE. (By T. L. LANCASTER, Lecturer in Botany at Auckland University College.) In view of some astonishing statements regarding the . Waipoua • Forest and its future, which appeared in your issue of Saturday laet, immediate comment ie called for. The control of this priceless asset isat present in the haiids of the State Forest Service, guided by,a practical forester, experienced, eoweart told, in Continental conditions .„,, of forestry. This practical forester, must know that the Waipoua, Forest is a subtropical rain forest—a type quite ;unknown in Europe and one which' i&; not amenable to Continental methods ;of treatment. He must also know vthat this forest is a unique national'asset* so precious that the only way in, which it would be treated by a civilised;nation would be to leave it, alone —leaVe.it to Nature. * < |>-' ; Waipoua Unique. ■~*.», The kauri tree is the most massive and one of the most striking Of all the trees of the earth. It forms, communities, sometimes almost pure communities, which are as grand arid awe: inspiring as any in the vegetable kingdom. Waipoua is now almost the only place where these communities can -be seen in all their primeval grandeur. Thus one of the most magnificent of all the tree communities of the earth, which once covered hundreds of thousands'of acres in the Auckland province, has been so greatly reduced that, apart, from Waipoua, only a few remnants remain to give the present and future generations lonic idea of the glory that.has been. The methods used in dealing with these splendid foreste in the past have been so reckless and so tragically wasteful, that devastation has been wrought over large areas of country. The nation can do no less, in compensation for the tragic paet, and in consideration for the generations to come, than make Waipoua a forest sanctuary, the unalienable property of the people of New Zealand. The forest is said to be "going back.' Most of the kauri is said to be "overmature." What do these terms mean 7 They are terms used by men who can think of no other use for a forest than to exploit it for its timber and devastate it. A forest is a community of living organisms just as a city is. It is not static but is in a state of gradual change. The older members are continually dying off and young ones make up the loss. Many citizens are "overmature," or "past their prime," for some, death is not far off, many die, but the community goes on. This is the inevitable process in all communities of living creatures. .Waipoua must have many dead and dying trees, but in comparison with the living specimens these must be present in relatively small numbers. . The estimate that 50 per cent of the forest is overmature and dying is worthless —no accurate data are available. Manx of the trees supposed to be dying will be found by the gloomy prophete of Dargaville to be an unconseienablc time about it. Neither their children nor their children's-children will be in at the death of most of these trees, hence their zeal to hasten the process by slaughter. Effect of Sawmilling. The proposal that the miller should be allowed to enter the forest to remove the dead trees and those said- to be dying, should be resisted at all costs by every New Zealander worthy of his citizenship. It would mean the end of Waipoua as a unique forest community. Anyone familiar with the orthodox method of working millable- forest in New Zealand can easily picture what would happen. To get ■at the scattered trees, miles of tram lines or bullock tracks would have to be made, and a great deal of vegetation would be destroyed. Along these tracks exotic plants would come up, thus modifying the forest. It is not generally known that our forests have an extraordinary power of preventing the establishment within them of exotic plants. Close observation \yill show that such plants rarely occur as permanent members in the interior of any native forest which has not been interfered with by man or animals. On the other hand, -if the forest is opened up by tracks or roads foreign plants begin to appear, and a hotch-potch of native and exotic plants results. Thi3 must, at all costs, be avoided in Waipoua. In connection with this idea of , gently and harmlessly removing the dead and "overmature" trees, the question naturally arises, as to who is to be the judge of the overmaturity or otherwise of these trees. Is it to be the'sawmiller, the practical forester, or who? It would be interesting to know where the line is to be drawn. A National Asset. It will now be obvious that there are at least two sets of opinions which may be held regarding Waipoua and its future. Those who have a strong sense of citizenship and who desire greatly the conservation of the varied natural features of this land, will regard the whole of Waipoua as a national asset, so precious that it should be the unalienable property of the nation. They will think of its wondrous beauty, its extreme importance from the scientific point of view, its educational value, the fact that it is not only unique, but also one of the grandest of, the tree communities exieting on the earth to-day, of which we are the guardians for the civilised world. Finally they realise that if we allow thie forest to .be destroyed t>y design or its primeval character ruined we cannot, hope to escape the etigma of barbarism which must attach to a people so torpid and indifferent, so lacking in strong and vigilant patriotism as to allow their great national memorials to be destroyed before their eyes. The slogan of these pecrple would be—leave the forest alone —let Nature have her v way. -Protect from fire vandalism and, as far;as possible, from the ravages of animals. Every citizen of New Zealand should be concerned in this. It is.the national point of- view.

On the other hand, a totally different set of opinions may be held regarding this matter. Some who take the liarrow parochial view may regard this forest (I may repeat, this unique forest) as a means of getting money. To many, such people Waipoua is useful oirly for the money value of the: timber-it contains. Such sentiments' regarding an ordinary piece of millable forest,would be quite legitimate for the "practical man." In respect of Waipoua they are utterly unworthy and pernicious.