THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 1936. THE DEER MENACE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22823, 6 March 1936, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 1936. THE DEER MENACE

The voice of Sir Walter Carncross, Speaker of the Legislative Council, has been again raised, this time at a public meeting at Eltham, in an earnest endeavour to emphasise the ever-growing menace which vast herds of deer represent to the forest lands of the Dominion. Sir Walter made reference to specific instances, given less than a year ago during a debate in the Legislative Council, of damage by soil erosion to farm lands resulting from the ravages of deer. He brought out what may to many be a surprising aspect .of the situation in his statement that the killing of deer at the rate of a thousand a week would not keep pace with the natural increase. Departmental reports in the past have referred to the " amazing " expansion of the herds, and each successive reportadds to the accumulation of evidence concerning their depredations in almost every high forest area in the country. In the last annual report of the Department of Internal Affairs it is stated that some of the worst damage has been done in localities where it is likely to prove the most harmful. Particular attention is paid to the precipitous valleys of the Tararua Ranges, near the headwaters of half a dozen rivers, where, it is declared, the damage to the forest floor " is exceedingly serious, and is equal to that sustained by forests in the heavilyinfested areas of the South Island," which is indeed a disturbing comparison.

In such places [we read] all the forest floor covering of ferns has been killed (the dead stumps remain to indicate their previous existence), the ground has been trampled bare of mosses and grasses and is torn up to an extent which resembles a stockyard, roots are laid, bare, small slips and water channels are already appearing; all undergrowth has been killed by the eating of bark or rubbing of antlers; all seedlings of the major species of trees, which effect regeneration, have been killed . . . and

nothing remains but the adult trees of the beech, and these have but a precarious hold of the earth. In these localities it was noted for the first time that the deer have eaten the bark of even the konini or native fuchsia, and thereby killed many trees. The fact that in all examinations of deer-infested forests conducted throughout both islands the eating of the bai-k of this species by deer had not previously been encountered indicates the stage depredations have reached in the Tararuas, as this bark is definitely, not attacked while other food is available, and the species is usually regarded as being immune.

Much more could bo quoted in similar strain. In the beautiful country adjacent to Lake Manapouri, for instance, it appears that " the regeneration of the major and predominating species of trees has ceased owing to the browsing off of all seedlings," and that the forest in such places " is now a community of adult trees only, with no possibility of their replacement when they die unless the deer population be kept numerically low." Above the forest line the snow tussock and other grasses and shrubs have been killed, " swampy patches have been trampled and used as ' wallows' until they start slips, and considerable erosion has been caused- by the melting snow and water run-off on denuded slopes." The situation obviously demands much more vigorous attention than past Governments have been disposed to give to it. Sir Walter Carncross describes the sum of £4OOO, included in last year's Estimates for the work of culling, as "a drop in the bucket," and so it is likely to prove. The scope of the work of national forest preservation must be enlarged. Measures to eliminate the deer herds require to be made comprehensive—covering all infested areas —and co-ordinated over a period of years. It is a miserable and must be an expensive business, this of endeavouring to repair the mistake made in the liberation of these animals, but it has to be faced. The cost can hardly be counted against the urgent need for saving the forests and the alpine growth, and checking the erosion of the watersheds.