Botanist backs swamp

Press, 4 March 1989, Page 1

Botanist backs swamp

By

DAVID CLARKSON

The ebullient botanist, Dr David Bellamy, took time out of a busy Christchurch schedule yesterday to take a look at “a nice little bit of swamp.” He believes that Christchurch should hang on to its last remaining swamp remnant, a part of Travis Swamp now earmarked for development. He concedes a lot of money would have to be spent managing it. After being approached by a campaigner to save the Travis swampland, Dr Bellamy read the reports on the area, talked to organisations such as the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, and looked at the swamp yesterday. He is always wary of lending his weight to campaigns. He gets 60 letters a day, and at least half of them seek his help to stop things happening. However, getting him involved is sometimes a two-edged sword because of the criticism his name can generate. He also says he is careful about offering his

support, “because some people are trying to save some pretty stupid things.” But the Travis swampland does have his support, and he would be sad to see the development of this last vestige of the great swamps that existed on the plains.

Christchurch owed them much, he said. Last century the Church of Scotland was looking to establish a major Scottish settlement in New Zealand, and sent two people to see the Deans family which was then living on the plains. The two church officials got lost in the dismal swamps south of Lake Ellesmere and because of the miserable time they had, made a rather hopeless report on the area. The Scottish Church created its settlement at Dunedin instead.

Preserving part of the Travis Swamp would enable people to see what the land was like before the Canterbury settlement.

“Developing it now would in some ways be like destroying Riccarton Bush,” he said.

Britain was now appreciating how valuable its wildlife reserves were and was having to spend millions of pounds to recreate them. The Netherlands was recreating some of its original bogland inside a giant polythene bag, for study purposes.

“Travis Swamp is already there. Perhaps it is worth more as a green lung so that the people of Christchurch can go back and see what it was like, than if it was squared off and developed,” he said. Dr Bellamy yesterday continued a series of talks to schools on the New Zealand Natural Heritage Foundation, of which he is a director.

The non-profit-making foundation, formed a year ago with the Tourist and Publicity Department as its largest sponsor, aims to educate people about the country’s natural heritage. While in New Zealand, Dr Bellamy has also been working on the filming of a four-part television series called “Moa’s Ark,” for Television New Zealand.