S.I. Forests Destroyed During Maori Occupation

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30110, 19 April 1963, Page 11

S.I. Forests Destroyed During Maori Occupation

Before the coming of man, -he South Island was almost completely covered with forest, says an article in the first issue of the “New Zealand Journal of Botany.” The cover extended to all areas below the tree-line except on certain soils in the driest parts of the island and locally where forest was re-establish-ing itself after destruction by naturally-caused fire or flood. The article was written by five Christchurch men, Messrs B. P. J Molloy (Department of Agriculture), C. J. Burrows (botany department, University of Canterbury), J. E. Cox (Soil Survey, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research). J. A. Johnston (Christchurch Teachers’ College), and Dr. P. Wardle (Botany Division, D.5.1.R.).

Most of the material collected indicated that the major fires were during the Polynesian period of occupation, with a few fires from earlier times. The fires near the coast seemed in general to have been earlier than those further inland.

The species in the former forests were apparently in general much the same as in existing forests in the same districts. In some cases, burntover forests have been replaced by new ones, some-

times, apparently, iwith different dominant species. The authors believe that mountain beech has long been the dominant forest species over the greater part of the alpine watershed. The upper limit of the trees in the former forests seems roughly the same as today’s tree-line. , The authors quote a suggestion made by various other workers that by the time the forests were burnt the climate had already changed in such a way as to prevent their reestablishment over wide areas. It would not be possible to come to a firm decision on this, they say, without a good deal of evidence from other sources, such as studies of soils and of forest regeneration. Their conclusions are based on the examination of charcoal fragments, logs, and soil features collected or observed in the eastern part, of the island, where there is now little indigenous forest. The age of the wood remains was found by carbon-14 dating carried out by other workers in New Zealand and overseas. The identification of species was made by Mr H. R. Orman, of the Forest Research Institute, Rotorua.