Notes By The President

Forest and Bird, Issue 153, 1 August 1964, Page 24

Notes By The President

Tauranga. Members in some parts of New Zealand will have seen newspaper correspondence from the then Chairman of the Tauranga Section, criticising the Society’s policy on the noxious-animals problem. 1 visited Tauranga on 26 May, when the Section’s annual meeting took place. Representatives from neighbouring sections also attended. Members of the Section were surprised to learn what had been said and done in the name of the Section by their Chairman, who explained that he was a member of the Deerstalkers’ Association. Without dissent the members decided to withdraw material which had been sent out in their name, and to assure the New Zealand Council of the Society of their loyal support. Mr. R. C. G. Janes was elected as the new Chairman, and Mrs. R. J. M. McLintock was elected honorary Secretary. The committee will be taking an active interest in the future of the Kaimai Forest.

New Zealand Scenery Preservation Society. 1 was privileged to address the annual general meeting of the Preservation Society at Christchurch, when I dealt with the objects of each society and indicated how each could cooperate with the other in the common interest. I learned with regret that Dr. Peter Cook will be leaving New Zealand for a lengthy period and could not therefore carry on as chairman. Mr. A. J. Scott was appointed to fill the position, relinquishing the position of secretary so ably filled by him since the formation of the society. Mr. Scott was recently appointed a member of the Nature

Conservation Council by the Minister of Lands, the Hon. Mr. Gerard.

A Fine Vision. While at Christchurch, 1 was fortunate in being able to visit the home of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Hunter, on the hills above Port Lyttelton, opposite Lyttelton. Mr. Hunter has set aside some twenty acres in a gully and is devoting his life to planting it with a great number of native trees, being ably assisted by his good wife. Already many plants .such as kowhais are well advanced, and some thousands of seedlings are being prepared for planting out. In the bare hills of the area this will be an oasis indeed, and it is hoped others will be inspired to do likewise. Canterbury Branch. I took the opportunity of meeting the new committee of the Canterbury Branch and discussed various matters with them. I was able to express my personal thanks to Mr. I. Gray for the excellent services rendered by him as secretary for so long. Mr. T. Hay is the new Chairman, Mr. W. Harris the new Secretary. Mr. Gray will maintain his interest in the committee by filling the position of organiser. Bushy Park. The committee has made a nice job of the newly built toilet block, and this will be appreciated by those using the homestead. Other work is in progress about the grounds. Shortly a fine display is to be erected in a room at the homestead by the Wildlife Branch of Internal Affairs and Lands and Survey Department. This will be worth seeing. Insecticides and Pesticides. From time to time in our columns we have commented

on the effects of modern pesticides on the animal world. During the past two weeks The Evening Post of Wellington has featured a number of articles on that subject by Alan Hardcastle, who maintains that control of the use of extremely dangerous substances applied to crops, pastures, and home gardens leaves a great deal to be desired. Naturally these articles have evoked a good deal of comment from correspondents, and statements from some official sources, some applauding the forthright articles, others challenging their accuracy. I believe Mr. Hardcastle has performed a service to the public in dealing with the matter as he has. Whether his articles are correct in every respect or not, there is no doubt whatever that modern insecticides are extremely dangerous poisons. Some can be absorbed readily through the skin, and generally they are cumulative in the animal body. This means that very weak concentrations absorbed by the animal body can ultimately build up to dangerous levels. There is a great deal still to be learned about the effects of many of the .substances concerned, but sufficient is known to be certain that great harm has already been done to bird populations in other parts of the world. Those who have read the regulations governing the use of chemicals concerned will have little difficulty in agreeing that they are most difficult to understand; certainly the average man would find them so. I am not impressed by an official statement that the home gardener is protected by the description given with the product when it is purchased. Many men are very casual about such things, and I fear many adopt the plan of adding something to the recommended strength, just to be sure! It happens that as we go to press, I have to hand a leaflet by Dr. N. W. Moore and C. H. Walker of the Nature Conservancy of Britain on the .subject “Organic Chlorine Insecticide Residues in Wild Birds”. It is a strictly scientific document; but it reveals a disturbing situation, high concentrations of such things as DDT, DDE and dieldrin being found not only in the birds but also in their eggs, which could, and almost certainly would mean, loss of fertility. That the pesticide problem is causing anxiety in other parts of the world is

indicated by the following two extracts, the first being from the April letter of the President of the International Council for Bird Preservation. TOXIC CHEMICALS In March 1964 the British Minister of Agriculture announced that the Advisory Committee of Poisonous Substances Used in Agriculture and Food Storage had reported that the accumulative contamination of the environment by the more persistent organochlorine pesticides should be curtailed. He stated that their recommendation that aldrin, dieldrin, and heptachlor should be withdrawn as soon as possible except for certain limited uses that had been adopted by the Government. This is a step in the right direction so far as one country is concerned, but the threat to birds, from the use of agricultural chemicals continues. The recommendation in the reports of President Kennedy’s Science Advisory Committee is the only answer to this world-wide menace to birds and other wildlife: Elimination of the use of persistent toxic pesticides should be the goal. The President of the National Audubon Society of America, in the May-June issue of their Journal, has this to say: It is frightening to contemplate the fact that chemical pesticides are now draining from the midcontinent farmlands and forests in such quantities as to cause massive kills of fishes, birds, and other wildlife in the lower Mississippi and in the Louisiana swamps and bayous. Imagine the quantities of poison required to pollute such a tremendous volume of water to that extent! Who can now say that Rachel Carson was an alarmist ? The facts, now being verified by scientists of the Public Health Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service, indicate that Miss Carson was conservative in her warnings. The poisons identified in the fish have proved to be highly persistent, chain-reacting chlorinated hydrocarbons: DDT, DDE, and their even more deadly big brothers, endrin and dieldrin. The Mississippi River disaster is a measure of the extent to which the uncontrollable pesticides technology has already polluted our environment in America. One of the firm and unmistakable recommendations made by President Kennedy’s Science Advisory Committee (in its pesticides report of 15 May, 1963) was that the use of the persistent chemicals should be eliminated except where urgently necessary for the control of human-disease vectors. Even if this recommendation were now put into effect, and if through some miracle of control and human persuasion not another pound of DDT, dieldrin, and the other persistent chlorinated hydrocarbons were dumped on the farms and forests of America, the load of these chemicals already laid down on the land will continue to leach and drain into the rivers—and poison the food chainsfor at least a decade.