STATE FORESTRY.

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 124, 19 February 1938, Page 8

STATE FORESTRY.

Extensive Tree-Planting Programme PROTECTION OF NATIVE BUSH An extensive tree-planting programme for the coming season has been arranged by the State 1' orest staff as part of the Government’s five-year plan. Approximately 20,000,060 young trees in the various nurseries will be planted out. The Commissioner of State forests, Hon. F. Langstone, said in an interview last evening that the planting of exotic trees in forest reserves in diffetent parts of the Dominion was by no means the whole programme or the problem. The necessity for protecting the native forests was equally important. ... “The story of bush destruction m this country is ivsad one,*’ said Mr. Linigstone. “We all know how such natural wealth has been abused instead of being wisely used. Forests had to make wav for settlement, and the axe and the firestick were used too often and too extensively merely as weapons of destruction. Hundreds of thousands of acres were denuded with grievous results in many districts. It is not necessary to elaborate the damage that has been done, but the fact of it cannot be over-emphasised so that such busn slaughter may not be allowed to happen again. The time has arrived when this small nation must become tree-consci-ous, and every effort made to repair the errors of the past. “Foremost in .this national work is fire prevention. In spite of the great publicity given during the holiday season to the Government’s appeal for the utmost ctrre, fires occurred again and again on the outskirts of forests wherever the public had access. I wish to draw public attention to the fact that the need for care with fire does not cease with the holiday season. Although the immediate weather conditions are favourable to forest protection, the inflammability of forests increases as the summer wears ou. Late February and March are usually seasons of special danger. “In the case of several fires which were dealt with and extinguished at considerable expense during the holiday season, there were unmistakable signs that the fire originated with small parties of picnickers, shooters or campers. It is apparently still not realised by many of the public that it is a punishable offence to hunt or camp in 'State forests without a permit.”