Research on peninsula reserve

Press, 23 March 1985, Page 20

Research on peninsula reserve

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The Armstrong Scenic Reserve, on Banks Peninsula, will become the site of continuing scientific research if a draft management plan proposed by the Lands and Survey Department is adopted. The research programme will monitor vegetation changes in the reserve and chart its recovery from the fire which devastated its tussock areas last year. , Data gained from the programme will be used in subsequent management planning. The main subject of the research will be the progress of seedlings of native cedar and Hall’s totara.

The department has called for public submissions on the plan, and has set April 12 as the deadline for comments.

The reserve was given to the Crown by the Armstrong family, who have farmed in the area for

100 years. It was gazetted in 1971, initially as a flora and fauna reserve; its status was changed to scenic reserve in 1983.

Included within its boundary is Flag Peak (813 m highest point on the eastern end of Banks Peninsula and a prominent feature which may be seen from Akaroa and from many places on the Summit Road. Because of its cool, moist climate resulting from the southerly aspect and the fog and cloud which linger on the tops, the reserve’s vegetation has many ■characteristics different from those of other reserves on the peninsula. It is the main reserve for beech forest on the peninsula, and until the fire last June it also offered the best chance of re-establish-ment of a native cedar forest on the peninsula. All of the adult

cedars died in the 19505, but until the fire numerous cedar saplings and seedlings were growing in the tussock. Most of these were killed, but not all hope is lost because, since the fire, another small pocket of cedar saplings and seedlings has been found lower in the reserve. These were untouched by the fire, and may eventually provide a new seed source.

Dracophyllum, coprosma, and mountain totara growing in the tussock were also destroyed in the fire, and these are expected to be very slow to regenerate. Other plants in the reserve include the broad-leafed cabbage tree, which is rare in Canterbury, and three Banks Peninsula endemics — two hebes and a “mountain daisy.” The daisy, Celmisia mackaui, is listed among New Zealand’s rare or endangered plants. The reserve covers 36.6 hec4 ’

tares, but is being extended slightly to provide “practical” legal access. Present access is by four-wheel-drive track across private land.

No further proposals are being made for its “development.” Because of the proximity of the Ellangowan and Otepatotu reserves, which have easy access, signposted tracks, and car parks, public use of the more remote Armstrong Reserve is expected to remain low. No tracks will be made within the reserve.

“Dense undergrowth of forest makes any penetration into the reserve difficult for groups in general,” the plan says. “Unless there is special interest in this reserve, large groups are better suited to reserves where access is easier and where people can still gain an appreciation of the forest.”

DERRICK ROONEY