FORESTRY WORK.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXV, Issue 4644, 4 January 1924, Page 3

FORESTRY WORK.

RECLAIMING SAM) DINES. EXPERIMENTS by department Recently a visit was paid by Mr JLinklater. M.P., to the scene p£ the Forestry Department’s operations tn reclaiming the sand dunes north of Oroua Downs, Manawatu- district. interviewed by a “Standaid” repor,ter, Mr Linklater made some interesting observations on the work now in progress. "in company with Mr Ron. Dalrymple, of Bulls,” he said, “1 spent a very interesting day inspecting the different experiments that are being carried out by the department in connection with the controlling and reclamation of sand dunes. This Work Was started in May, 1921, and ¥Ol7 good progress has been made. Tj'.c block of land on which operations are being carried on is Government reserve, 2850 acres of which has been fenced. This icserve is reached-by travelling the Sanson road until' you come to the Ftiki Puki road, north of Oroua Downs, whicn terminates about 3/2 miles from the coast. “Much of this reserve,- to the •sea front, is almost pure sand, and it is on those areas the Forestry men, tin 'er Mr Stride, are concentrating their efforts. Marram grass is used in planting the sand areas, and it is proving very effective in holding the sand together. The idea ic to plant the drifting sand in order to hold it. and then, later on, to plant trees. “Foredunes are being built up near the sea coast in order to stop the ■sai.d drifting from the ocean beach. Flax, attached to a wire, was used at first to obstruct the drift, but recently scrub has taken it's place yrith much better results. A nursery for the purpose of trying out different trees on the sandy' areas has been, cultivated near the camb, and here many varieties of trees' are to be seen in different stages of development. “I am quite sure that in future years this will be a very valuable reserve, because there is no doubt abcut trees of commercial value growing well on it. “We saw some Oregon pine trees, for instance, and 45,000 trees of different species will be planted next year. This land, which is valued at only 8s 6d to-day, will have a value very hard to estimate when it is covered by valuable forest. This land is typical of many thousands of acres along the West Coast which, if treated in a proper manner, would not only prove of value in keeping the sand drifts froiw covering good grazing land, but would also provide ample, timber for the use of coming generations.”