EROSION FROM THE SEA

Chronicle (Levin), 22 March 1948, Page 4

EROSION FROM THE SEA

Catchment Board Inspect CoastalBelt Sweeping inland in ever-widen- - ing arcs like" ripples on the surface of a milipond, sand drifts from the. coastal belt along the western seaboard prpsent one of the most ipi** portant soil conservation problems in the Manawatu,.. . .^* * To". rilake themselves familiar with this phase of their responsibilities, mettibers of the. Manawatu; Catchment Board . haye made .a two-day tour of inspection £)1 the sand belt from Waitarere to the mdffth ' of the Rangitikei • River* They ' saw at first * hand the bleak arid barren sandy wastes Where not eyen the hardy lupin has been able to. establish a . footh-old, they saw* gra^hic examples of the encroachment of the**sand drifts ori- to prOductive land, they • saw roading menaced by the remorseless march of the wind-whipped sand an'd— most important of all— they saw * outstanding examples of hPW this class of country has been turned from a. costly .liability into a remunerative asset. Tiiey began a few hilles iniand • from. the Waitarere Beach where the back of the Public Works Department's pine foreut was viewed. This is a very good example of how Wandering sand dunes can be fixed to a point where they bPrder the sand plains which are suitable for grazing and, under certain eonditions, cropping. From .here the party proceeded. to the, pine nurs~ * ei'y,. nearer the shore; ' Where the young trees are grown *• before plantiiig on the dunes . among lupin : and scrub. The tour continUed down to the shore, along the beach fo'r about a miie and* theri inland through the Public " Works DepartmentJs forest. -From the beach an- example of the perfect ■ diuie .frofti .the point of yiew of resistance to 'wind was seen. It sloped gradually to a* low peak; at the base - was the spinifex grass which grows out towards the sea and neafer the top was the thicker, but not so' useful, marram grass. The forests at Waitarere were planted during the depression and contain good healthy trees. In some places the operation of thinning has been comrttenced. In a few years' time they will be commercially valuable and will "have. made the original unproductive sahd into a fertile soil. At Himatangi the party saw an area of erosion which was, at its worstf stage: Siriiilaf to the Waita- • rere I area' before jit whs taken- irihand, -i|,showed just ljipw,far sand eijosion , can/ ,go , jeft uncjieckedNpt 'far away siririlar land; \Vhere the ! iiroblem ! ha:d been t'ackl'ed *andr the -land made prodiictive • wsisseep-.- .ti : ... .. >