NATURE AND MAN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 15 April 1939, Page 10

NATURE AND MAN

PRESERVATION OF NATIONAL PARKS AN APPEAL TO THE PUBLIC (Edited by Leo Fanning) As soon as picnickers and other excursionists have easy access to a beautiful area of woodland the spoiling process begins, because some of the visitors are shockingly careless. That kind ol' maltreatment is glaringly visible in the Wellington City Corporation’s native bush at Day’s Bay. on the eastern side of the harbour. On the lower slopes the forest floor has been sadly abused. Also the songs of tuis are howled down by portable gramophones and other noise-making inventions. Civilisation! Similar trouble is occurring in the United States of America and other countries. “A serious situation that originates in the very attractiveness of the parks is the rapidly-mounting flood of visitors recorded,” writes H. Baldwin Ward in "Nature Magazine." “Some destruction of natural conditions can be traced clearly to the overcrowding of areas limited by natural barriers. Of the original conditions on the floor of Yosemite Park little remains to-day. The loose forest soil around the base of famous Big Trees has been pounded down so hard by the tramping of curious feet that (he life of these giants is jeopardised. In all parks careless visitors and trophy hunters do damage that, in total, becomes a serious loss. “How can we make the public conscious of the supreme value of our great national parks and the need of handling them in a fashion to preserve their irreplaceable features? "Nations, communities, and even individuals expend large sums for buildings and for their maintenance in order to preserve in these museums dead things—relics of the past—against vandalism and careless or rough hands. Should we not with even greater concern protect these museums of Nature where is exhibited in unparalleled variety and splendour her work in the past? Should we permit such unique museums of Nature to be treated as mere playgrounds of the people, however important the latter may be and are? Shall we discharge our obligations to the present and the future if we fail to use evfcry resource in our power to educate the public and to protect the nation’s treasures in our museums of Nature from ignorant mishandling and early destruction? “The destruction of the primitive is all too easily and quickly effected. The primitive can never be fully reconstructed. Will men and women stand idly by without thought of Nature’s priceless marvels or vision of the future need for to-day’s inspiration, until the Wilderness in its most superb development is irretrievably gone? “Deserts march forward apace Man in the ruin takes part; Nature would join in the race, Make over the ruin men start. "Swift flies the course of destruction. Slow creeps the pace of replacement. Nature knows no reconstruction; She only covers defacement.” A CHRISTCHURCH MYSTERY A big astonishment came to me the other day from my native city, Christchurch, in this report of “The Press”: I "It is surprising to some who are inter- ! ested in the history of Canterbury, that in the preparations for the centennial of New Zealand no mention has been made of the claims of the Riccarton bush. Yet the trustees of the bush, which is a natural historic memorial and can be perpetuated beyond the life of brick and stone, have for years been hampered by lack of finance to carry i out necessary improvements. They i have found it hard to persuade the pubi lie of the real value of the bush, which lhe famous naturalist, Dr. Leonard ! Cockayne, conld scarcely find words to j express.” | That noble remnant of forest—which J has some big white pines—is better I known as “Deans Bush,” for it formed part of the estate of the well-known Deans family, distinguished pioneers I of Canterbury. Christchurch people are ; Well known for their love of trees. Ex--1 cept for that piece of forest in the ‘ Deans estate the plains lacked woodlands when the pioneers began to make j a city by the Avon River. Quickly the ; new settlers began to plant trees which ! now command the admiration of visij tors. Why are people to-day listless about the Riccarton bush? I feel inclined to think that the trustees have j j

not had a very impressive campaign for funds. It is hard to imagine that the citizens would be as indifferent to the welfare of that bush as some folk of Taranaki are to the preservation of the forest mantle of Mt. Egmont. A GERMAN LEAD IN FIGHTING EROSION Several European countries have much to, teach New Zealand in prevention bf erosion. Here is a tribute to German methods by Captain W. W. Wanamaker, a civil engineer of U.S.A.: “Germany has great forests well preserved and carefully supervised. She recognises the value of her forests in the prevention of erosion and in mitigating the effect of local floods. “What then is to be learned from Germany’s experiences with flood control? The skill, resourcefulness and thoroughness of her engineers is well known. We are quite certain that exhaustive study has been given to her problems, backed by a wealth of data. In spite of her comparatively small area, her apparent absence of torrential rains over tremendous areas, her large and well preserved ' nests, she has still found it necessary to provide a control and regulation of her mountain streams, to build levees, reservoirs, diversion works and floodways and is now planning and executing more of such works.” MORE SANCTUARIES NEEDED FOR GAME BIRDS Sportsmen, real sportsmen—as distinct from pot-hunting bangers**-re- i cognise that New Zealand needs more refuges for game birds. “Several factors contribute to the immediate success of game refuges.” remarks the well-known American naturalist, Archibald Rutledge, in the American “Farm Journal.” “Most interesting of these is the fact that a wild creature quickly learns the meaning of a sanctuary. “During the hunting season I have known a flock of twenty-six wild tur- 1 keys never even to leave a sanctuary, though it was modest in area; and while deer will leave it at night to roam far in search of browsing, 1 have seen them warily trooping back into the refuge in the dusk of morning.”