STUDY OF N.Z. FORESTS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27055, 2 June 1953, Page 6

STUDY OF N.Z. FORESTS

CANADIAN EXPERT’S VISIT

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, June 1

New Zealanders should do everything possible to protect and develop their inheritance of indigenous forests and their new treasure of exotic forests, said Mr J. J. De Gryse, former chief of the division ot forestry biology in Canada, tonight. Mr De Gryse, who has been asked by the New Zealand Government to appraise the various biological factors affecting forests, particularly exotic forests,- arrived in the Dominion on March 22. Since then he has visited most of the exotic and indigenous forests in the North and South Islands. He will leave for Canada tomorrow, and will forward his report to the Government later.

The main dangers were fire, insects, and disease, said Mr De GYyse. But for the early work of the Forest Service and private companies in afforestation, New Zealand would now be facing a critical timber situation. “In Canada we depend largely on regeneration, but in some of the provinces, there is a gradual tendency toward reafforestation by planting and seeding,” he said. “We use only native trees, spruce, balsa, various kinds of pines, and larch, planted for both lumber and pulp. However, they do not make the rapid growth of your exctics here. Where your trees reach commercial maturity in about 35 years, ours in our more severe climate take anything from 75 to 100 years.”