“Highest Tree In N.Z.”

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30686, 27 February 1965, Page 18

“Highest Tree In N.Z.”

A lone lodge pole pine growing on the top of Mount Hamilton at 6297 ft was almost certainly the highest tree in New Zealand, the officer in charge of the Forest and Range Experiment Station of the New Zealand Forest Service (Mr J. T. Holloway) told the Select Parliamentary Committee on Noxious Animals at Craigieburn. The tree was planted on bare shingly rock, he said. When set out in 1959 it was Bin high, and now it was 18in high. It was protected by a cairn of stones, whch was added to as the tree grew. A liberal supply of nitrogenous fertiliser was provided. The lodge pole pine, Pinus contorta, was a native of the south-western United States. The species, Mr Holloway said, figures prominently in the experiments his station was conducting to find suitable tree species for high altitude to provide protection forest for badly-eroded areas in the Waimakariri weather system and the South Island high country generally. He showed the committee trial plantings, mostly of lodge pole pine or a nitrogenfixing alpine alder species, Alnus viridis, growing on bare scree or other unpromising environments up to 5000 ft, about 1000 ft above the native beech line. Spreads Rapidly Lodge pole pine had its dangers in that it spread rapidly by seed dispersal. Grazing experiments carried

out by his station, however, indicated on preliminary results that where country was carrying one or more sheep to the acre the pine was kept under control.

In conjunction with the tree trials, Mr Holloway said, weather stations had been set up at various levels to give reliable climatic statistics which would be a guide for future plantings. At present, readings had to be taken by a staff member who climbed to 6000 ft three or four times a week for the purpose. The Industrial Development Department of the University of Canterbury, however, had built electrical soil-surface, and air-temperature reading equipment which, when installed, would enable temperatures at six levels to be read from a base station. Reading Wind Speeds A parallel system for reading wind speeds at the various stations was aiso under construction, and it was hoped that both systems would be operating before winter. An experiment to measure run-off was under way at Camp stream, the runoff from small areas with various types of cover—beech forest, tussock, bare scree, and so on—being measured after every heavy rain.

The project was handicapped because a necessary dam was not yet built. The animal population of the area was now very low, mainly, he thought, because of the big influx of human visitors, pre-

dominantly ski club members, since World War 11. Earlier, deer and chamois had eaten out the young growth of the beech forest, but there was now quite heavy regeneration, especially on south facing slopes. Erosion of the tussock country was partly attributable to sheep, which had been finally removed about 12 years ago: though fire and other factors had also played a large part.