OUR MUNICIPAL FORESTS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 130, 26 February 1920, Page 5

OUR MUNICIPAL FORESTS

NEGLECT AND WASTE

"CRIMINAL CARELESSNESS" OF THE CITY COUNCIL

SIR DAVID HUICIHNS INTERVIEWED

i No one in New Zealand knows moro than Sir David Hutehins about forests' niUl.the means of preserving them from fire' and other dangers, .iml much woight therefore attaches to what he had to say when he was interviewed recently by a 'Dominion' representative about the treatment of the square mile of bush which fills the valley 'behind Day s Bay and other forests under local municipal control "Criminal carelessness" is tho term-Sir David applied to the failure of the Cit'v Council to undertake the protective measures which would make the Day's Bay forest remnant-all tho more valuable because it is only a rem-nant-as little liable as possible to damage by fire, and practically immune from destruction. , . , In tho icpoit on the Day s Bay forest, which lie presented to the City Council last vear. Sir David- Hutchms recommended that the area should be intersected bv fire-lines ami forest'roads (these last 'incidentally providing narrow, but nreful, fire-breaks) as well as surrounded by a much broader five-line than has yet iieen made. It was pointed out by the interviewer that some people havo raised objections to cutting up the forest into sections. Sir David replied that these measures were taken universally m all countries in which scientific forestry was practised, and were recognised as an essential safeguard against damage or destruction.- Proper precautions have to be taken in opening up a with fire-lines, and just how to do it wito tho minimum of danger is ono of the subjects regularly taught in European fc-restn. It was'imoossiblo, he said, to eliminate the fire-risk at Day's Bay without cutting up the forest into-sections. _ "The safety unit of fire protection in the American national forests, he.continued, "is ten acres. This figure applies to 90 pei- cent, of the American national ioreats none of which is suburban, and many of which aTe in wild remote regions. For suburban forests, on account of the ever-recurring danger from fire (from smokers' matches and in. various other whys), it is usual to make tho safety unit considerably less than 10 acres, sometimes as low as five or even three acres. This figure shows, in n nutshell, the criminal carelessness ol tho Wellington municipal authorities in leaving the Wellington suburban forests practically unprotected at this season, On the American National Forest procedure, there being about 640 acres at Day a Hay. there will have to be 64 squares isolated by intersecting fire-paths. With about the smallest safety margin for suburban forests-five acres-Days Bay forest would require 128 isolated squares. Not one has vet been made! The American figures I 'have quoted are given ma recent publication by E. H. F. Swnin, of the Queensland Forest Service, who was sent by the Queensland Government to America to study modern forestry metliods and particularly fire-protectwn. One must Temembor that these internal fire-lines, though they have the appear'ance at first of cutting lm the bush ruthlessly very soon transform themselves into things of beauty. Such lines bring out tho real beauty of the European forests, the vistas of overhanging houghs, with perhiw an antlered stag looking at one down the line. The s"W" discussed in a chapter on 'Forest Roads in mr 'Waipoa Kauri Forest,' published by tho New Zealand Gbvewrment a vear ago. Picturesque effect is obtained by not making the lines absolutely straight, and when thev are required for road purposes, tha necessarv gradients efface all semblance of formality."

Interplanting at Day's Bay. One' of the, most important luoasures recommended by Sir David Hiitcluns.m his report to the City Council a year ago was the interplanting of the native forest at Day's Bay with imported trees m order to thicken the eroWth and establish a continuous forest canopy, and in this and other ways increase the margin ot security against the. to danger. To his interviewer, Sir David Hutclims said he was aware that some exception had been taken to the interplanting proposal by those who held that it would destroy the character of the native forest and .impair its charm.- He nevertheless regarded the interplanting as essential if tk? forest were to lie put into really good order and the fire danger rednced. to a minimum The trees to bo interplanted would be selected for their beauty, as well as for fire-resisting quality. As it stands, the growth of the forest is ragged and uneven, lea.ving exposed patches ot scrnbbv growth which wo inicli more likelv 'to afford a starting point to destructive fires than the shaded interior of the forest with.its clean forest soil. Hie internlaiited trees would establish a dense growth and an unbroken canopy overhead, which m.uM tend to keep the whole forest interior cool and noist.

A Policy That Invites Disaster. "It may be said," Sir David .remarked, "that these views are alarmist—that we are now getting towards the end. of February and the bush is far from being drv enough to bum now. If anyone holds this opinion, let him spend a quarter of an hour in walking from tlie Khandallah railway station to Gorsey Knoll', up the new paths-made by the late Onslow Borough Council. There he will see the wreck of a forest finer than that of Day's Bav and naturally wetter; but which in a dry year some W.xmrs ago was completely swept by fare. lne neighbouring householders still talk ot the terrors of that night. It would take centuries to restore the forest to what it was by natural means; but the late Onslow Borough Council had begun a pvstem of fire-path--i and roads and planting, which, in a few years, would have rendered the forest not only safe from another fire, but would have converted it into, an area of high productivity. Hero the Wellington council's record is even worse than' at Day's Bay. The little nursery was left to be stifled with grass and weeds, the usual routine work of replacing failures after planting was neglected, and now the whole plantation in the go'rse will probably have to bo dono over again. A strip of ornamental planting lias been practically destroyed bv the denning operations of gardeners, aiul when a very -urgently-needed snort fence was erected, instead of splittingout poles from the dead burnt logs, green re-growth saplings were cut! Surely with the area of forest in charge of the Wellington council—the Wainui catchment area, at Day's Ray. at Khandallah, mid at Wilton's Bush - it is false economy not to have' a trained forester in charge. In all this question of forestry and fire protection, one must remember that the necessary fire-natli> cannot be mnde in a dav .or 'even.short of r.«veral years, with ordinary work;. and that to leave the forests in their present state mid then blame accidental fires, or an exceptional dry season, is illogical. It is inviting disaster a? surely as if the city of Wellington were left not only without _ its present efficient fire brigade, but without u. fire brigade at all.