Dear Sir,

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 62, 4 August 1947, Page 4

Dear Sir,

Letters to the Editor must he clearly written on one side of the paper only and where a ' nom-de-plume is used the name of the writer must be included for reference purposes. The Editor reserves the right to abridge, amend or withhold any letter or letters.

WAIPOUA KAURI FOREST Sir, —The Commissioner of State Forests, Mr Skinner, stated in the * House recently that scientists say that the mould or the litter dropping off the kauris or other podocarps on to the floor of the forest creates acidity in the soil. The acid water dripping down from the leaves on to this mould gradually percolates through it to the soil eventually making that soil sterile and forming either an ironstone pan or pebbles which finally kill the kauris. He said that the policy being evolved (including presumably the destruction of the forest floor by milling) was designed to counter this tendency.

Waipoua Kauri Forest has been standing for many thousands of years, and where the State Forest Service has not yet nenetrated is one of the most beautiful sights in the world, and not only that but, with its asociated vegetation of over 300 different species, is a scientific monument unique in the world; unique in that all other kauri forests of any size have been cut out or burnt out by man bent on commercial exploitation; Waipoua alone remains,

Supposing that the forest is dying, as Mr Skinner claims/* it has taken many hundreds of years in the process and is still remarkably hale and hearty, so much so that any risk of the forest dying cannot reasonably be used as justification for the extreme urgency of the major operation now being performed on it by the State Forest Service. It was heartening to hear from Mr Skinner that. the State Forest Service were acquiring areas for regeneration where kauris had been cut out; nevertheless the existence of so many kauri cemeteries seems to be an excellent reason for taking no risk with the only remaining forest—Waipoua. : ? f At best, the result of the operation will be to produce a commercial timber plantation in which the trees, standing in serried ranks like a pine plantation, will not be allowed to exceed three feet in diameter, i.e.,, 150 to 180 years’ growth, before being cut down. At worst, should the operation prove unsuccessful, it would spell disaster, and it must be remembered that the experiment in its present form has not been carried out before and that the result of interference with nature is often surprising and generally unpredictable. ... There-appears to -be no doubt that the aim of the State Forest Service vice is to produce such a timber plantation, but the fact that the forest is a last survivor of tremendous aesthetic and scientific importance—an ecological association found nowhere else in the world —appears to be of no importance to them; in fact they seem to regard a large part of this . association as a nuisance, one of their foresters having recently remarked that it was intended to clear the undergrowth at the rate of 500 acres a year! We are asking the Government to turn Waipoua into a national park and stop the destruction. lt can then, for a hundred years or so, watch the results of the havoc caused in the areas where the State Forest Service has been improving the forest, and at the end of the period scientists may know enough about the regeneration of kauri to be cer-„ . tain in their treatment. In the meantime we contend that the forest will not have descended any appreciable , distance towards the grave, and the risk of doing irreparable dam- . age to one of the world’s greatest wonders will have been avoided. Should we not pause and consider that in our little day we are guardians for generations unborn of this sole remaining specimen of a magnificent heritage. Yours etc., For the Forest and Bird. Protection Society of N.Z. (Inc.) N. H. CARTER,

Secretary.