HILL COUNTRY PASTURES

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22507, 15 September 1938, Page 12

HILL COUNTRY PASTURES

EXPERT COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE LAND DETERIORATION AND EROSION PERSONNEL ANNOUNCED BY MINISTER [From Our Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON, September 14 The appointment of an expert committee to investigate the related problems of land deterioration and soil erosion was announced to-day by the Minister in charge of the Scientific and Industrial Research Department (the Hon. D. G. Sullivan). The committee consists of the following members:—Dr. H. H. Allan, Government Botanist: Mr R. P. Connell; Land Utilisation Officer, Department of Agriculture; Professor C. A. Cotton, ot Victoria University College; Professor E. R. Hudson, Director of Canterbury Agricultural College, Lincoln; Mr E. B. Levy, Director of the Grasslands Division; Mr J. M. Smith, Fields Superintendent in Otago for the Department of Agriculture; Mr C. M. Smith, of the Forestry Department; Mr N. H. Taylor, of the Soil Survey Division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.

The Minister added that the committee bad been set up partly in response to representations from the Royal Society of New Zealand. Its task would be to survey the situation and collect evidence, particularly from the soil and vegetative aspects, and also to secure exact information on which administrative measures could be based. Concern Felt “The deterioration in hill country pastures,” said Mr Sullivan, “not only in those established after felling ot forest, but also in the wide areas ot native tussock-grasslands, has been proceeding steadily for many years, and has caused considerable concern. The deterioration has become still more manifest in its later stages, owing to the resultant soil erosion. In the earlier ' ' stages, erosion proceeds stealthily, and reaches a serious stage without being apparent to the casual eye. Only too obvious are the later stages, when great areas are scarred by gully erosion, and landslides and flooding of rivers become increasingly serious. Ultimately the cause can be traced to interference with the vegetative cover. . . .

“Officers of the Soil Survey Division have studied th 6 problem for several years past, more especially as it concerns the 'bush burn’ pastures of the North Island, and the wetter areas generally in the tussock-grassland areas. Officers of the Botany Division of the Plant Research Bureau have investigated the matter from the botanical point of view. In these lighter rainfall areas the practice of burning to provide young feed has been the main cause of deterioration. The flush of feed provided by the young growth has also increased the tendency to overstocking, with its resultant further depletion. Unfortunately fire kills out the better pative species early on, and with the steady weakening and disappearance of the tussocks, many sheep stations have reached a stage of great depletion. Spasmodic efforts have been made to replace the lost grasses by exotic species, but except in small specially favoured areas, without much success. * It is clear that restoration ol a vegetative cover is the prime necessity if erosion on a large scale is to be checked. Obviously, serious and concerted effort is necessary if the problem is to be solved.”