Waikato Winter Show Competition

Forest and Bird, Issue 106, 1 November 1952, Page 14

Waikato Winter Show Competition

Extracts from Jacqueline Lette’s Winning Essay (See Newsletter) TT was the white settlers who found the fire such a willing servant. Before the land could be ■cultivated it had to be cleared and nothing was easier than to burn the forest off. Though today few large areas of bush are burnt in a single year, each summer sees the forest remnants attacked by fire. Many of these fires are man-caused, the worst offenders being campers and smokers. Cigarette butts tossed thoughtlessly into dry grass, picnic fires left smouldering, can cause serious damage. Deer are a great menace to our native forests. They feed on the ferns and shrubs, moss and undergrowth which form the floor of the forest. They eat tender saplings and thus prevent the regeneration of the forest. They also destroy many plants which provide honey and berries for the native birds. If at one time New Zealand was a land of forest it was no less a, land of birds. Undisturbed for centuries they lived in such isolation that many species, like the almost legendary Moa, ceased to fly. . . . Through the years many of these birds have become extinct . . . and others . . . are gradually dying out. To help keep what we have laws have been passed forbidding any person to damage certain of our native birds. [With only one or two exceptions, all native birds are protected.—Ed.}