FOREST DOOMED

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 134, 3 December 1929, Page 12

FOREST DOOMED

DESTRUCTION BY DEER

SOUNDS REGION ATTACKED

A STKONCI WAENItfG

"I believe our New Zealand forest is doomed, unless wo get rid of lao deer, and get rid of them quickly," declared Mr. A. L. Hunt (who has just returned to Wellington from a trip to Doubtful Sound), in the course of an. interview with a "Post" reporter. Mr. Hunt said that a party of three— Mr. H. P. Gibbs, a well-known hydroelectric engineer from the Old Country, Mr. s H. Viekerman, civil engineer, and himself, and throe guides—J>*a4 just spent nine days in Doubtful Sound in connection with the Lake Manapouri hydro-eleetrie scheme. They went down first in 1927, then last year, and again this year; and, of course, exploring the country for a. week or more, as they had done each, time. They went into the holes and corners everywhere, not merely over the beaten tracks. That gave him' a good chance of noting the altered conditions since 1927. "On our first two trips," said Mr. Hunt, "although we found the deer very plentiful on the easter side of the divide, and their ravages were quite apparent there, wa did not see anything of them beyond the divide. But now they are on the other side, right down to the West Coast.

"IMIIENSE DAMAGE DONE." "They must be there in thousands, too, and they are doing immense damage to the bush. They are mostly red deer. The wapiti, of course, are at George Sound, and the moose further down. At frequent intervals, even, along the track, we saw the trees all ring-barked; all the bark chewed pffi six or seven feet above the ground. Curiously enough, they tackle the tanekaha, the celery-tipped pines. They; seem to prefer them, but do not stick; t*, them altogether, unfortunately. They skin every bit of bark off, and the tree simply dies. On any amount of other trees we found their horn, marks all over the butts, and all the undergrowth was torn up and trampled down. The astonishing part of it is that the deer are now found in such great numbers in this, the most inaccessible part of New Zealand, and it is evident that no bush anywhere can, now be considered safe from their depredations. They have spread over from the eastern side of Lake Manapouri, where they have been for years; but it was quite a surprise to find them on the other side. They must be very numerous to do the damage they have done. ; '

POISON THE BEST REMEDY. ' "It is a terrible thing to think of. There is no possibility of shooting them in such fearfully wild country as that. No subsidy that could be offered would induce men to go into It. So there is only one way of getting rid of them, and that is by poisoning them. I think one of the best ways would be by putting down poisoned rock-salt for them to lick, as there would then be no danger of hurting the birds. Of course, not only is thearea referred to a national park of great beauty, containing some of our very finest bush, but it should be, when made accessible as time goes on, a magnificent asset in regard to our tourist traffic. There is nothing to touch it anywhere else in New Zealand. THREE DEER SHOT IN THREEI , HOTJKS. •■■ "To show how plentiful the deer are on the eastern side, I may say that a business man, a visitor from Scotland, came to the boarding-house at Manapouri, and went with a friend just across the Waiau Eiver, and, although no. expert hunters at all, they got. three deer in the course of threa hours. But an expert could have shot a dozen in that time. "FEWEE AND FEWER BIRDS." "What is happening with regard to the birds I do not know, but every trip down there we see fewer and fewer birds. It is terrible to go into a primeval country like that and find, such a state of affairs. The bellbirds were quite plentiful on our first two trips, but this time we hardly heard or saw any. Pigeons are very scarce, and tuis almost non-existent. The wekas, however, L-eem to be holding their own, and on this occasion we saw a larger number of kakas than previously. I do not know why, but it may have been that the snow had driven them down from the hilltops; We had a very unusual experience this time. We were weather-bound in the ' hut for some days, and at last, although tho barometer was going down and the cold getting more intense, we decided to stay there no longer. We therefore mads a dash for it.'and as w!e> came over the Wilmot Pass, we had to plough through snow knee-high for about five miles— a. most extraordinary thing at this time of the year. An. exceptionally severe snowstorm had struck the northern part of Otaeo the week before last.

NEED POX INQUIRY. "What has happened down there with regard to the birds I do not know because it cannot be said that their old feeding grounds have been depleted. There still seems to be the usual amount of bird feed there. But the whole matter should be inquired into. Of course, it may be said that stoats and weasels have invaded the district, and that may or may not be the case. 1 have seen stoats right oa the track, and that shows that they are in thq bush there. But I do not think that that is the cause of the disappearauee of the birds, because Guy Morrell—one of the Morrell boys, who know every inch of the country therehas lately been down to Resolution Island, a sanctuary separated from the maiulan.d by a fair stretch of water so that the stoats and weasels cannot reach it, and he says there is the same diminution in the number of birds there compared with what he had seen, on previoiu visits. .Some of the old settlers have an idea that the native birds ■ must have suffered from some disease which was introduced when the imported birds became more plentiful becan.se, even in that undisturbed country, the native birds seemed from that time to grow rapidly scarcer. However, the whole problem seems to be on© that should be engaging the at tension of research officers. I say thi/j, not merely as a lover of birds an<d a lover of Nature, but because it is a matter of considerable economi'e importance to the country, inasmuch as the oirds are essential to the existence ana propagation of the native i bush."