FOREST CONSERVATION

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume VIII, Issue 1353, 8 July 1886, Page 2

FOREST CONSERVATION

Professor Kirk, who has been appointed Chief Conservator of State Forests for New Zealand, has presented his report to Parliament upun the natural forests of this country, and upon what means may be taken to ensure a future supply of useful timber. The report contains a great deal of valuable information, but the part which is of most interest to residents on this coast, is that which refers to the perpetual forest reserve around Mount Egmont. As most of our readers are aware, the reserve is a circle having a radius-line of G miles in length from the top of the mountain, and Professor Kirk is of opinion that owing to the open character of a large portion of the forest comprised within that area, it would be a compartively easy matter to clear out the native bush a little at a time aud to replace it with plantations of larch, black Austrian pine, Douglas fir, English oak, aud various eucalypts, all of which would flourish at different altitudes. He think? that the formation of a forest of immense value may thus be fairly anticipated. The reserve at present comprises 50,000 acres of forest and scrub, 15,000 acres of low scrub, and 8000 acres of open land above the level of 4500 feet. It has already been proved by settlers residing well up tbe slope of the mountain ou the Stratford side, that many varieties of trees that are not indigenous thrive very well there, the only necessary condition being that they shall not be too susceptible to frost when young. Many trees that are tender when young, outgrow that weakness if a little care is taken to shield them from severe frosts for a couple of winters. They, in fact, become acclimatised. The one great practical difficulty in tbe way of establishing an artificial forest in that reserve lies in the fact that it is swarming with wild cattle, west of the Wningongoro, and that in other portions of the reserve it is the custom for settlers to turn their cattle into it in winter, for food and shelter. Fencing off a portion of the block would therefore be a preliminary expense before any tree-planting could be done, aud it is clear that tor many years forestry must mean a continual outlay and no return. When the return does come, however, it is usually a very handsome one, and the existing forests in Europe and India not only pay their way aud provide the means for establishing still more plantations, but furnish a large nett revenue as well. The Tree Planting Encouragement Act has been repealed, and there is no sign of Government taking any active steps to replace timber in districts which have been, and still are being denuded of their natural forests. It is true that something has been done towards withholding from sale blocks of bush in tbe north of this Island, but something more than this is required, and although no immediate pinch is felt, it cannot be many years before serious attention will have to be given to providing a future supply of timber — a material which we, in our generation, have so recklessly squandered and destroyed.