Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, JULY 31, 1939. SAFEGUARDING THE FORESTS.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 July 1939, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, JULY 31, 1939. SAFEGUARDING THE FORESTS.

* THE need for more earnest effort in safeguarding what is left of our once abounding forest Wealth continues to be emphasised in various ways. An unauthorised removal 01. tree ferns from the Mount Bruce State Forest, winch gave rise to Court proceedings recently, is one example of many c emonstrating that what is called forest consciousness is as yet imperfectly developed in New Zealand. If the people of this country in general were alive to the importance ol forests anc forest lands in its national economy—for instance in the factors of water conservation, the prevention of erosion and the supp y of timber and firewood—they would as little think of wantonly removing or destroying a forest tree as of - cutting down an ornamental tree in a public park.

It lias to be remembered that the destruction of a tree fern may be just as damaging as allowing young forest growth to be destroyed by grazing stock or in other ways. Apart from its beautv, the fern may be providing the shelter that gnes future timber trees their start in life. In any case no one is entitled to destroy needlessly a tree fern of gre?it beauty lot private use, or, to'cite a far too common practice, to adorn the walls of a dance hall for an evening. Nature takes many years to produce a growth that may be destroyed by a stroke or two of an axe. An inclination to destroy in that fashion lor the sake of trilling or temporary enjoyment assuredly would not be tolerated in a forest-conscious country.

To a great extent, the problem of preserving our remaining indigenous forests centres in the prevent ion of (ires and ol unauthorised grazing by stock, and in setting limits to the ravages of deer and other other introduced animals. In most New°Zcaland forests during at least a part of the year there is a serious (ire risk. It is well known, too, that most forest, (ires result from the carelessness of visitors or sawmill workers. Stringent safeguards and protective measures are all the more necessary now that the Government, holding that the forests should be opened widely to the people as a recreation area, is undertaking the construction of good tracks in the Tararua and other bush regions. Already one such track is being made in tin* Holdsworth area.

This is all to the good provided the increased numbers of people thus enabled Io visit and traverse the lorests can be induced to observe simple precautions against, tire and other damage. It is imperatively necessary, however, that there should be no neglect of these precautions. Already examples of lamentable and needless damage to forests an 1 far too frequent, and too numerous. Not long ago a fire swept over some hundred acres or so of second growth on Mount Holdsworth. the outbreak being attributed to a Guy Fawkes celebration. At about the same time several hundred acres of beech forest on the Marchant Ridge were devastated by tire, resulting, it was staled, from the failure of a party of trampers to extinguish a fire they hail lit to boil the billy.

The policy, in itself excellent, of opening up some of the forests more freely to public access most certainly should go hand in hand with adequate measures of forest protection and with an educational campaign directed to awakening .forest consciousness and an understanding of what lorests mean Io t Ik 1 country and its people. With an increased number ol people traversing the forests, the danger ol disastrous tires must be increased in some degree, but ('very possible effort should be made to minimise the risk. The appointment of a sufficient staff of forest rangers to ensure effective protection should be regarded as essenlial. Besides keeping a watchful eye on theforests, the rangers might do much to awaken in those who visit the forests an appreciation of the importance and necessity of protective measures and of the strict observance ol precautions against damage by fire or in other ways.

As one contribution to the standards ol salety that arc demanded, organised bodies of trampers and others no doubt would agree readily to require of their members the observance of a forest code that would go far Io obviate the risk of damage by tire or otherwise'. In the schools, too, both primary and secondary, it should be possible Io devote some time, usefully and profitably, to forests and the safeguarding of forests.