A Transformation

Te Ao Hou, September 1962, Page 45

A Transformation In the thirty years since this work started, a complete transformation has taken place. Where the great hills of sand once blew about for miles in ever-changing patterns—the ‘immense tracts … like a deep snow in winter’ which the Rev. Butler had described—there are now dark pine-forests, all flourishing in different stages of growth. The State Forest Service took over from the Ministry of Works in 1951, since skilled foresters were needed by this time. There is some cover now on all the dunes except for a strip still owned by Mr Durban Pairama Ngatiwhatua; there are 7,000 acres of forest, and by 1965 they should be planting 1000 acres more each year. From the slat fences, reminiscent of the pa palisades of old, which are there to make the new sand form into hills, to the dark panorama of pines beyond, there is little to remind any Te Taou of the great sea of sand they once owned. The lakes nearer Muriwai, ‘the footsteps of Kawharu’, are now obliterated. One area which was once a garden for kumara and taro is now a nursery for the young pine trees. At the same time that the scope of the planting is expanded, the older trees must be pruned and thinned. The sale of some pine products has already begun, and in the future, as the trees reach maturity, this will be greatly increased.