MOUNTAIN FORESTS .

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 264, 8 November 1933, Page 6

MOUNTAIN FORESTS .

PROBLEM OF THE UREWERA,

(By J.C.)

There are several points to remember in any discussion of the relative claims of forest and farm, with particular reference to the Urewera Country. It seems ti> me that none of tie newspaper letter-writers on this subject have fever seen or travelled through that district. There is one essential difference between the methods of Maori farmers and European settlers in rough bush country. TheMaori wav, as I have observed in the Urewera Ranges, is to cultivate only the sheltered valleys and riverside flats and the more easy i slopes, leaving the upper parts of the hills in their original forest. The Maori appreciated the necessity for retaining the protective bush. He did not burn off the timber wholesale over range and valley; ho only clcared the land he needed. Throughout the Urewera Country here and there we come on those ancient clearings, in the valleys between tho still densely-wooded mountains. The pakelia settler, on the other hand, all over New Zealand, has seldom exercised such discrimination; ho has felled and 'burned everywhere, irrespective of the lie of the country and the need" for reserving tlie ranges and hills from the general destruction. Such cleared and grassed valleys as Ruatahuna and Waikari-whenua, in the heart of the Urewera Country, arc rimmed in all round with forested ranges," which shelter the settlements and cultivations and protect the river sources. In some places I have seen the people busy at their cocksfoot grass seed cutting, and noticed that the grassed clearings extended only up the more gradual slopes; the high, steep ridges were'left alone. But the danger is now that the younger generation of Maori farmer will cease to follow the wise old ways and will be tempted to imitate the ignorant and shortsighted methods of the average European •paatoralist who regards bush as a mere cumbering of the earth. There are many little valleys, and two or three large ones, in the Urewera Country which have been inhabited for several centuries. The population never was large; still, those places and the bird-teeming forest provided hundreds of people with food and clothing and all the simple necessaries of life. That population made little impress on the forest and its life; not until the white man came with his destructive animals and noxious weeds did the Maori country begin to suffer. The country has certain obligations to the Maori which should be honoured. Those people of the Urewera tribe who prefer the simple life among the ranges to the more profitable ways of the outer plains should be encouraged to hold on to their ancient glens and hills. There are many families in at Ruatahuna and Maungapohatu and other parts of the Urewera who hold to the iOld ways; and the Urewera generally regard Mataatua as a kind of rallying place, the revered heart and centre of the tribe. There are several places along the motor road through to lake Waikaremoana, where small settlements are justified by usage and the food-growing quality of the soil. So it is a.wise policy to encourage the a/ttachment of the people to their ancient mountain homes and to cultivate any usable portions of the land. But the clearance of forest from the mountains and particularly the Papatotara and Huiarau Ranges, is not to be justified on any ground or excuse, and I do not believe that the Urewera Maoris want to make smch clearance. Those backbone ridges, steep and lofty, and very beautiful in their present dress of Sorest, should never be interfered with. It was understood when the new road was being cut through the mountains that the Government intended making arrangements to preserve the whole of that rugged 'bush region by compensating the native owners. If that has not been done, it should be done now. The Maoris are entitled to liberal payment for the reservation of mountains which, in effect, will be a great national park. Such small clearings as are suitable for native settlement in the valleys would enhance by contrast the beauty of the foresit; the human associations should by all means be preserved. In the other direction, the northern part of the Urewera, it is important that the Whakatane River watershed- should be safeguarded. The present clearings on the upper part of the. river, from Ruatahuna northward, do not affect the river harmfully, and the middle section of the Whakatane, to the point at which it issues from the gorge on to the plains, is' still foresit-covered on both sides. But with the making of a road up this valley there is danger to >516 bush. In some places the ranges rise steeply nearly a thousand feet above the river. These should all be reserved beyond all fear of interference. Some years ago there was a request from settlers at Whakatane that the Government should arrange for the opening of these ranges for European settlement. The folly of such a course was obvious, and the agitation was ! criticised so much that the protecting flanks lof the river valley are still in their forest covering. But such places are never safe until they are definitely made forest and climatic and river protection sanctuaries. As for timber milling, there are some places on the edge of the Urewera, as at Te Whaiti, where useful patches of bush, such as totara, can be drawn on for local purposes. But the mountain region generally is not a land for timber working, and the road iieyond Te Whaiti will not stand a heavy timber traffic.