STATE FORESTS

Taranaki Daily News, 1 February 1933, Page 5

STATE FORESTS

LARGE SCALE PLANTATIONS ROTORUA AREAS PROGRESSING. SOME TREES REACHING MATURITY. On a. quarter of a million acres of pumice land in the Rotorua district are planted no fewer than 197,000,000 exotic forest trees. This State forest >ffieme is by far the biggest—past or presentin New Zealand; it stands as one- of the great afforestation projects of the world, and there yet remain to be planted 100,000 acres. For miles out from Rotorua the roads are lined—sometimes on one side, sometimes on both—by dark green plantations, which contrast with the tawny hue of the virgin country. Beginning in a small way more than 30 years ago, the work has developed until an average of 30,000 acres constitutes the yearly planting programme. Private enterprise has followed the Government’s lead, with the result that thousands of acres more of this class of country are now established as private afforestation areas. Large supplies of New Zealand’s softwood timber, in the future will come from these stands of conifers. Their potential value may be enhanced by the 1 possibility of their use for wood-pulp production, a purpose perhaps undreamt of when the first plantings were made. The capabilities of these pumice lands as the home of future forests were admitted and acted upon long before their suitability for other purposes was realised. Some of the trees in the 7000 acres stand overlooking Whakarewarewa —the initial scene of operations—are over 30 years old and are rapidly assuming the proportions of mature timber. Forestry science was not so advanced then as it is now and the variety of methods employed has made this block a particularly suitable demonstration area. The remaining 217,000 acres, all in one block, have; for the most part, been planted during the last ten years, since afforestation came under the control of a separate Government department VARIETY OF SPECIES. Rotorua" country, with its bountiful rainfall, has proved - suitable for many more species of timber tree than are to be found in most of the southern plantations. Thus the service does not run the risk of “having all its eggs in one basket” Insignis, covering about 90,000 acres, predominates, but the graceful larch (larix europea)-superb in ifc autumn garb—comes a good second, followed by the Douglas fir (Oregon), ponderosa (American yellow pine), Corsican pine, dear pine (strobus), lodge pole r ine (Murrayiana), and Californian redwood, with a lesser area of Muricata. In their native land these are all proved timber trees. ' , „ But afforestations is not merely the planting of trees. Young trees have to be raised; land has to be surveyed, cleared, and roaded two years ahead of planting operations. All these activities proceed in orderly fashion according to plan. The .task of raising the trees in the service’s own nursery from seed procured from America. is in itself an industry. To see 15 million. Douglas firs neatly arranged in the nursery like soldiers marshalled on the parade-ground is to realise* that. . Some 600 miles of roads give access to all parts of the block. On some of the land being cleared is heavy manuka, which provides firewood for the workers, an important consideration for a winter staff ' Of between three and four hundred and a summer complement of over one hundred and twenty. It is a singular feature of this tree-planting enterprise that one of its problems should be the-supply of firewood. PLANTING IN VOLCANIC ASH. In actual planting the service has solved a problem, which has probably no counterpart in commercial afforestation practice in other parts of the world—how to make trees grow in volcanic ash. Over an expanse of thousands of acres, an area small in comparison with the whole block, lie pure cinders from the Tarawera eruption, anything up to a foot deep. Beneath them is the pure loam in which, the trees thrive, but the trouble arose from the cinders becoming very hot beneath the heat of the summer sun and threatening to scorch the collars of the trees. This difficulty has been overcome by embedding the young trees securely in the loam in the first place, so that they are exempt from the influence of the cinders. A considerable area of this class of land remains to be planted, but no ’ further trouble is anticipated. Machinery and large-scale operations mean much to the modem commercial forester. The service at Rotorua possesses what is probably the biggest tractor plant in New Zealand, which has proved itself in road formation. Reading by such methods costs only from £6 to £8 a mile. Large scale operations have lowered establishment costs in a remarkable way. In the Rotorua plantations there are stands which cost from £5 to £lO an acre to establish; today the all-inclusive cost is 24s an acre. At compound interest this sum. would double itself in fourteen years, but in 40 years an acre of plantation would be worth, as timber, something over £lOO.

On such figures as these, the Forest Service bases its hopes that its forest areas will become one of the State’s assets, even though the intervening years may seem a long time to wait for the promised'reward. Insignis, the quickestgrowing pine, will reach maturity in from 30 to 45 years, according to the use to be made of the wood. For other species experience points to 50 years as the minimum rotational cycle if firstclass timber is the aim in view. Stands intended for box timber—and New Zealand in the future will need much of this—might be cut earlier, the authorities say, while, with the pulp industry developed, use might be made cf plantations at a still earlier stage, but it is the experience of foresters the world over that commercial plantations sometimes become victims of human impatience, which looks for reward before 'the trees are ready to produce their maximum economic return. Waste results from such. short-sighted policy. Already plans for the establishment of the pulp industry in the forests of the North Island, have been made, but the authorities point to the danger of too hasty a beginning at the risk of leaving expensive plant and much capital lying idle awaiting a steady supply of raw material.

The work on the Government plantations at Rotorua is controlled by Mr. W. T. Morrison, Conservator of State Forests. He is preparing for a. busy winter season. Owing to a hitch in arrangements only 12,000 acres were planted last season, but Mr. Morrison hopes to reach the 30,000-acre mark this winter.