HARMFUL TRAIL-BLAZING

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 3, 26 April 1939, Page 5

HARMFUL TRAIL-BLAZING

—o— TRAPPERS AND TRAMPERS Field observers have reported to the Forest and Bird Protection Society that a very noticeable result of the closed season for opossums is the improved condition of the forest floor? in areas formerly frequented by trappers. Captain E. V. Sanderson, president of the Society, comments: — "One is compelled to ask the question: Are opossums or their trapper? the more harmful to the forest and its inhabitants? They tell us all about the weasels and rats trapped, but very, very little about the„kiwi weka and other birds caught ir •places like Waikaremoana, and the West Coast of the South Island. "Certainly the supervision of trappers is exceedingly lax. Armed with slashers, these persons hack trees fo: the purpose of marking trap lines' and, in some places, under the im pression that an unusual mark wi: attract the animals to the traps, the" heavily score the base of the bole o a nearby tree. Thus suitable entr places- are formed for fungoid another destroying agents. The bar; of a tree is its natural protectior against such enemies. "Trampers, too, delight in blazin' the trail needlessly. The real old time bushman blazed a tree only a •ome very important turning point But then he used his intelligence t find his way. In those days there wer no moving pictures with a caste o townsmen dressed as bushmen, wlv wrongfully used the term 'blazing th< tfail/ which, in America, means flhd ing a new routes** > ~ >. ♦QUICKEST artf best printing Jol 'Vo pvnr bad'' citTll rv"*