Sutherland Reserve in Turakina Valley Now Open to Public

Forest and Bird, Issue 186, 1 November 1972, Page 3

Sutherland Reserve in Turakina Valley Now Open to Public

By

Dorothy I. Strauch

THOUGH the Forest and Bird sign, indicating ownership, has been displayed on the Society's Sutherland Reserve in the Turakina Valley since 1969, it was only this year that the Rangitikei Section considered the reserve to be completely in order for visiting naturalists. It is the latest donated reserve to be opened to the public and is the Society's only endowed reserve.

SUTHERLAND RESERVE, of 178 acres, has: • A marked circular track of 2 miles. - • Trees identified with name-plates. © Maori sleeping pits of pre-European origin. ©Evidence of natural tree regeneration. © Picnic tables and seats. To develop the project members of the Rangitikei Section worked over 400 man-hours at weekends and on odd days. There were fences to erect to exclude stock, tree planting at the entrance, spraying ragwort by helicopter and haversack, building a high footbridge as access to one part of the bush, making tracks, tree-labelling, and setting up picnic areas. The Rangitikei Section has accepted responsibility for the care and supervision of the reserve.

Two Stands of Bush When Archibald Sutherland died in 1967 he left 2,700 acres of land to various charities. Two blocks of bush he gave specifically to the Forest and Bird Protection Society with a generous endowment for their future preservation. One stand of 150 acres is 17 miles up the Turakina Valley and the other a further 3 miles on the Mangahoe road (sometimes spelt Mangahowhi) to Hunterville. In 1968, at the time of the property transfer to the Society, members noted on an inspection tour that stock from the surrounding pastures had stripped the forest floor. However, by 1971, after fencing had kept stock off the floor, the same members noticed clear evidence of regeneration.

The bush is classified as temperate rain forest, is located about 250 ft above sea level, and is about 20 miles straight from the coast. The larger stand is at the corner where the Mangahoe Stream flows into the Turakina River. The visitor enters the reserve over a stile, following the markers with yellow discs a short distance to the edge of the forest. The markers continue to be displayed on trees on a circular track for 2 miles. There are three distinct botanical areas, and the kahikatea is the dominant canopy tree. Seen from a neighbouring hill the canopy areas are kahikatea, tawa, and kanuka in their respective sections. Canopy layer: The podocarps grow in the damp or swampy ground except the totara, which prefers the drier slopes and ridges. Tawas and kanukas are also on the drier slopes and allow sunshine to filter through the branches to the forest floor. There are rimu, matai, kahikatea, hinau, maire, miro, rewarewa, kowhai, and, in the Mangahoe stand, particularly fine totaras. Epiphytes are growing in the kahikateas and are of the Astelia species. Climbers on these trees are rata vines, clematis, supplejack, kohia (native passion vine), and lawyer. Sub-canopy: These trees are titoki, tarata, putaputaweta, mapua, houhere, kanuka, and mahoe.

Shrub layer: There is a variety of coprosma, koromiko, manuka, lancewood, five-finger, kohuhu, turepo, poroporo, mapau, taurepo, ti kouka, and native broom. Area of Regeneration : The kanuka, which grows along the stream cliff edge for some distance, has nursed the kowhai to a height of 30 to 40 ft and skirts an area of regeneration which indicates that at some period well before this century there was deliberate or accidental fire. In August 1971, when a working party saw foliage dropping from a considerable height, two pigeons were discovered in the tops of one of these high kowhai plucking the young shoots. August <is a month when bird food is becoming scarce. Mr K. E. x Reynolds, chairman of the Rangitikei Section, who has provided much information for this article, says native birds he has seen in the reserve are kereru, tui, bellbird, grey warbler, pied fantail, kingfisher, and morepork. Mrs Reynolds, Whose relative owned the block of land before Sutherland came into the valley, told me that soon v after the turn of the century someone near the township of Turakina liberated a pair of Australian sulphur-crested cockatoos which have since bred a colony of descendants. Some can be seen at times around the reserve and they can be heard screaming from the canopy. Forty or 50 inhabit the area between the Turakina Valley and Hunterville and sometimes they congregate in a flock of this number.

Sleeping Pits On a high cliff overlooking a gully, where river and stream meet, and sheltered by bush, are three Maori sleeping pits. A titoki with a trunk of 18 in. in diameter grows at the edge of the largest pit, its roots exposed on the inside of the pit. The late Mr M. J. G. Smart, a former curator of the Wanganui Museum, identified the pits as the temporary sleeping quarters of Maori in the district, who in the past came from their main habitation to replenish their larder. The district, which was covered with bush for miles in the early days, teemed with birds such as kaka and kereru. There was a plentiful supply of berries and fruits of the forest—tawa, hinau, supplejack, and

kohia berries —to be enjoyed by pigeon and man alike. The river and stream could supply eels, minnows, and other fish. Even in recent years an eel basket or hinaki has been seen in the river. Eels are still trapped by eel weir and basket about the end of March or early April. Formerly this area was a secondary food basket when supplies ran short in winter. The closest kainga would be only a few miles’ walk from Kauangaroa on the Whangaehu River, which has no no fish because of its sulphur content. The main villages at Turakina would also use these upper regions for food gathering. The ridge would be chosen because of its good drainage and the sunken floor of the pits would ensure greater warmth in winter

and, according to Mr Smart, would be roofed and give good dry cover. These wharau or or temporary shelters could easily be repaired at every annual visit.

In the pits, shellrock and shells lie just below the surface of the soil, indicating Pleistocene origin. Sample shells sent to the Dominion Museum for identification proved to be fossils. They were fragments of oyster, brachiopod hinges, and a fairly complete valve of a Tawera.

A few chains away from the pits, at the edge of the kanuka, there is a small open clearing circled by kowhai and kanuka where the New Zealand ricegrass (Microlaena avenacea) is the only plant. Perhaps the answers to the questions arising from the change of pattern in the vegetation lie with these food-hunting expeditions. Was a special food-gatherers’ ritual involving fire performed at this spot at some pre-European time? Did the hunters light a fire that spread out of hand?

According to Mrs P. Hekenui, of Marton, none of the birds or fish caught would be cooked or preserved in the area. If this were done, it was believed the fish would go down stream and the birds depart to another area. The snarers would bring their own sustenance for the duration of the visit. For here was a community where Mother Earth provided generously from tree and water and where the mystic relationships between the god of the forest and the inhabitants—animal, plant, and man—had to be recognised with awe and invocation. Some part of the fish

or bird must be returned to the earth, for the tapu enclosing all must not be broken. Sutherland the Man Archibald Sutherland was born in 1884 at Lamb Hill, Ford ell. In 1902 he bought the property in the Turakina Valley and remained there for the rest of his life. By this time the valley was fairly well settled, with a road alongside the river giving easy access. This was a vast improvement on the conditions prevailing in 1890, when Mr Malcolm McGregor, Sutherland’s predecessor, had to make 26 crossings of the river to travel from Turakina to the property. Sutherland, too, was a pioneer, a man of the old school who believed in plenty of work. For recreation he considered a change of work as good as a holiday and found enjoyment in giving his neighbours a hand. Not one to move readily with the times, he was still using blade shears when all his neighbours had converted to power tools, but his generosity was heartwarming. When families were in need during the depression he supplied them with a cow and a calf, the only proviso being the return of the calf when it was reared. This man loved trees. It made him sad to see the pastures encroaching on the bush. He considered that when a tree was cut down, another should be planted. He hated praise. But in giving the two stands of forest to the Society his kindness will be perpetuated. [ln bequeathing these reserves to the Society, Mr Sutherland requested that there be no picnicking in them on Sundays. Ed.]

Week at Bushy Park Being Arranged for January

SEVERAL members have expressed disappointment at there being no Forest and Bird camp this summer. A Forest and Bird week has been arranged for the week 8 to 15 January 1973 at Bushy Park, the lovely homestead and grounds owned by the Society at Kai Iwi, near Wanganui. There is very limited sleeping accommodation in the homestead, but plenty of room in the “Bottom Paddock” for tents and caravans. Meals will be provided; members will help on a roster basis.

This is a chance to see the Wanganui area, including McPherson’s Bush and Laird’s Bush, the local coast, and estuaries. Very few members have had the opportunity to get the “atmosphere” of Bushy Park; usually all that time permits is a weekend. Come along next January, meet old and new friends, and get a good start to 1973. Write for full details to the custodian, Bushy Park homestead, Kai Iwi via Wanganui. The number attending will be limited to 50 members.