What future for kauri?

Forest and Bird, Volume 15, Issue 3, 1 August 1984, Page 14

What future for kauri?

By

Forest and Bird Northern Regional Field Officer

Mark Bellingham

Widespread public concern about kauri forest management and the destruction of Northland’s very important forests have not been allayed by the New Zealand Forest Service’s Kauri Forest Management Review. The lack of adequate scientific reserves, salvage logging in protection and recreation zones, and the poor economics of kauri management will continue if the 1983 Review is adopted. Kauri forests contain varied plant associations Northern forests containing a kauri component once covered 1.5 million hectares, but less than 4% of this remains. These forests contain not only kauri forest, but podocarp-hardwood and hardwood forests which vary from pohutukawa forests on the coast to rimu-Hall’s totara-

tawa forests on the tops of the ranges. Kauri forest makes up only 11% of the State Forest ‘‘kauri estate’. These kauri forests vary considerably. They range from the kauri-tanekaha forests of eastern Northland, to the kauri-Hall’s totara forests of Waipoua and the kauri-hard beech of South Auckland, the Coromandel and Kaimai ranges. Asad history of exploitation Northland’s coastal and lowland forest was cleared in part by the Maori, however most was cleared by Europeans from 1840 to 1940. Kauri timber milling reached its peak in 1906 when 440,000 m of kauri was cut (today 1-2,000 m’ cut per annum). More than half the kauri forest was burnt off to clear land for agriculture. One of the greatest of these fires occurred in the vast Puhipuhi forest, south of the Bay of Islands.

Nearly 7,000 hectares of virgin kauri forest was set alight and totally destroyed. The loss was estimated at over 1.5 million cubic metres of kauri which even in 1887 was valued at four million dollars. Another fire killed Kairarau, the largest kauri ever measured, which was 22 times larger than Tane Mahuta, the giant of Waipoua. Despite the magnificent conservation campaign spearheaded by Professor Barney MacGregor in 1948 which resulted in the establishment of the Waipoua sanctuary, destructive kauri logging practices continued elsewhere. In the early 1970’s there was a public outcry against the logging of mature kauri in Warawara State Forest in Northland and in Manaia State Forest in the Coromandel. Large areas of kauri were still being clearfelled and there was great concern for the few

remaining mature kauri stands and the future of kauri as a species. The 1973 Government Kauri Policy In 1973, the Government adopted a Kauri Policy, which aimed to preserve and protect kauri, by reservation and through appropriate forestry management. New scientific reserves were established. However, eastern Northland, south Auckland and Great Barrier Island still have inadequate kauri forest reserves and many of the existing reserves don't meet the Forest Service’s own scientific reserve guidelines (Geden, 1983). The 1973 policy proposed to acquire "substantial areas of kauri regeneration’. This was never carried out (Sale, 1979), and this aspect has been further down-played in the 1983 Kauri Review. Large-scale land

acquisition for pine planting continues at the expense of the acquisition of threatened native forests and the shrublands in which kauri is regenerating. There is wide-spread clearance for pine planting of the shrubland areas in which regenerating kauri could form great forests of the future. Although the 1973 Kauri Policy was set up to allay the public fears for the small area of mature kauri forest that remained, mature kauri logging continued until 1981. Kauri logging at Puketi State Forest was finally stopped in 1979 when a large kokako population was discovered. Logging contracts were transferred to Herekino State Forest near Kaitaia until they expired in 1981. A moratorium was placed on all logging in Puketi while a study of kokako was undertaken and this moratorium expires this year. However, some salvage logging operations have still gone on in Puketi despite the moratorium. Over 100 kokako have now been found in Puketi and this is one of the largest single populations of this species found anywhere in New Zealand. Half of the kokako in Puketi have territories outside the ecological reserve in areas zoned for forest management where they

are vulnerable to any resumption of logging operations. Today most State Forest kauri comes from regenerating kauri forests in Russell State Forest. Trees are felled and logging sites are cleared to aid visibility for the helicopter that usually lifts the whole log from the forest. This operation is only feasible with small sized kauri light enough for a helicopter lift. 1983 Kauri Management Review The 1983 Kauri Management Review has put more emphasis on timber production. The 1973 Policy allowed 870 m* per annum of kauri to be cut in State Forest. The 1983 Review wants the cut to equal the calculated growth throughout the forests zoned for management. This would mean a 14 fold increase in the current cut to 12,500 m? per year. Kauri management also involves planting kauri seedlings, a practice that evokes much public sympathy. But there are many places in which kauri have been planted where there is already good kauri regeneration and also in areas where kauri doesn’t grow naturally. All the seedlings planted to date come from a few trees at Waipoua. Whether these seedlings will grow fast have straight trunks or thrive in climatic and soil conditions different to Waipoua is anybody’s guess. In the first four to five years of growth, kauri seedlings are ‘‘released’’ from the surrounding vegetation. Competing low vegetation is cut back and near by large trees are ring-barked. These include totara, rimu, tanekaha and many other forest canopy species. Natural forests are manipulated to produce an unnatural kauri mono-culture. The effects of this manipulation on nutrient recycling, tree health and growth, and wildlife is unknown, yet this unmonitored experiment is being carried out in thousands of hectares of forest. Obviously from a scenic and recreational viewpoint kauri management does change the character of the natural forest dramatically. Towards representative kauri reserves The 1983 Kauri Forest management Review fails to recognise the inadequacies of present reserves or timber management

practices. Our Society is currently documenting opportunities for a more representative kauri reserve system. We have already identified a range of areas as being of importance including the following: Waipoua: An extension to the west would give a continuous tract of protected forest from the top of the Tutamoe Range to the Tasman Sea. This extension would include mature Kauri growing on old sand dunes, a colony of the endangered shrub Pittosporum pimelioides and coastal kauri forest. Puketi: The whole of Puketi Forest should be a sanctuary. This would protect the kokako population and preserve the giant kauri (including Te Tangi o te Tui, the fourth largest) which are in a proposed production zone. Russell: A larger reserve is needed here to represent the lowland and regenerating kauri forest associations of eastern Northland that have all but disappeared from this region. Reserves are also needed with coastal and lowland kauri, and the various vegetation types associated with

regenerating kauri forest. These are poorly represented in present scientific reserves. Our alternative kauri plan Future management of our remaining state owned kauri and northern native forests must recognize that these forests are justa shadow of their former extent. Their primary role must therefore be preservation to protect their unique plant and animal associations, to protect soil and water values and to maintain their distinctive scenic qualities. Sensitive use of kauri forests for recreation and education is also compatible with their preservation. Such use benefits not only the people of Northland and Auckland but also provides an important attraction for Northland’s growing tourist industry. The popularity of the recently constructed excellent nature walk in Puketi State Forest is clear evidence of public interest in kauri forests. These forests are unrivalled in size, grandeur and sheer diversity by any other forest in New Zealand and have a profound impact on visitors.

In contrast to nature conservation and recreational use of kauri forests, timber production can be largely accommodated elsewhere. Exotic forestry is expanding dramatically throughout Northland. Management of these exotic forests is providing increasing employment in Northland and the forests can meet virtually all our timber needs. Kauri need only be used for limited speciality and snob uses. Forest Service studies indicate that it is unlikely that the kauri market at this stage or in the foreseeable future will be capable of absorbing significantly more than the current level of kauri supply (895 m° per annum). Instead their studies indicate that any increased quantities would only be used for utilitarian purposes. There is therefore no market justification for the major expansion in kauri production envisaged by the 1983 Kauri Management Review nor is such expansion justified on economic or ecological grounds. The Joint Campaign on Native Forests has calculated that to provide the present state forest cut of kauri for speciality uses

on a sustained yield basis less than 150 hectares of managed kauri forest is needed. Our Society has joined with other members of the Joint Campaign in calling for the deletion of all but 150 hectares from the proposed kauri management zone in Northland’s State Forests. Any further expansion of kauri silviculture can be achieved by the acquisition and regeneration of shrubland. The balance of our surviving state owned kauri forests in Northland, the Coromandel and the Kaimais in the Bay of Plenty deserve immediate permanent protection. References Geden, B. L. (1983): New Zealand Forest Service Ecological Areas. In Biological Resources Centre News No 3. November 1983, Wellington. Halkett, J. G. (1983): Kauri Forest Management Review. Kauri Management Unit, New Zealand Forest Service, Wellington. Sale, E. V. (1979): The battle to save the kauri is only half won. Forest and Bird, Vol 13, No 211. Anon, (1983): Kauri Policy. New Zealand Forest Service, Wellington. a