SOIL SAVING.

Forest and Bird, Issue 50, 1 November 1938, Page 11

SOIL SAVING.

NEED FOR URGENT ACTION.

We have heard much about land deterioration, much about erosion, much about misplacing settlers on lands which, owing to their nature, should never have been despoiled of their original covering.

When one comes to look upon the whole as a whole the work of undoing grievous past mistakes and making proper plans for the future does appear to be a colossal one.

The first step, a thorough survey of all the lands in the Dominion with the object of ascertaining their best uses in accordance with the varying conditions of soil and situation, is to be attempted. Straight away will come the problem of displacing many settlers who are on lands which should be in forest or in their original natural condition, as, for instance, the greater part of the tussock country running through the middle of the South Island. All such settlers in the North and South Islands hold their lands legally, and compensation would be necessary.

Then, again, we have to eliminate the vast numbers of trespassing browsing animals in our forests and on our uplands, a work alone which would cost many millions. Verily, the task of undoing those things which we ought not to have done is a truly formidable one. Yet, if we do not tackle the job heroically, we are surely heading towards dire disaster. Our fertile food producing lands will steadily undergo a process of destruction until at last their former great productiveness will merely be but a memory. One wonders whether the New Zealander can really rise to the occasion. At present much expenditure is being put into unnecessary roads while vital national needs do not receive adequate attention. The conservation of our natural resources, such as the soil, is given secondary consideration to subjects like currency, which, after all, is merely a convenience for the exchange of goods.

“People who do not make friends with the birds do not know how much they miss. John Burroughs.