Where we came from

Forest and Bird, Issue 268, 1 May 1993, Page 23

Where we came from

the ideas behind the beginnings of Forest and Bird

EVERAL CURRENTS in ideas and events came together to form Forest and Bird and help it on its way. By the 1920s there was growing support in New Zealand for the idea that native forests and birds were worth saving. This was part of a fundamental shift in outlook. When European colonists first came to New Zealand in the nineteenth century and set about transforming it, they had taken it for granted that European animals, plants (and people) were superior to their native counterparts.

They regarded the displacement and probable extinction of the native species in the face of more "‘advanced"’, more "vigorous" immigrants as a natural and inevitable part of the progress of colonisation. Some explained the process as Divine x Providence, others as Darwinian survival of the fittest, but either way this displacement, to the colonists, was part of the law of nature. So

Any idea of protecting or / « preserving native species, from "a this viewpoint, seemed out of the question. With the bush being cut, burnt and cleared as quickly as possible to make way for farms ("one blade of grass is worth two trees" as the saying went), there was little support for saving native forest even for a timber supply. From the 1870s there was some discussion of forest "conservation", but in this context the word was used in the sense of expert forestry management along the lines being developed at that time in India. In the case of birds and other animals, the colonists were mainly interested in introducing or "‘acclimatising" European species. From the 1860s they had formed acclimatisation societies to bring in sparrows and thrushes, trout and pheasants, deer, possums and a host of others. Some

native species (kiwi and tuatara, for instance) were sought by scientists as museum specimens but, in general, unless they were good for eating (kereru and kaka) or good for hunting (ducks and godwits), native species were considered good for nothing, and all destined to disappear with the advance of civilisation. By the turn of the century, however, this view of native inferiority and inevitable extinction was being modified. The change seems to have been associated with the development of a national feeling in New Zealand: the colonists were becoming settled New Zealanders and beginning to identify with their new country rather than the old. Their perspective on native things was shifting accordingly. An increasing number were nativeborn themselves, and were developing a patriotic feeling for New Zealand, its bush and mountain scenery, and)its special native birds. Some were even béginning to refer to the bush and the birds as a natural "heritage" which should be cherished and protected, and handed down unimpaired for future New Zealanders. Forest and Bird was by no means the first group to promote this new kind of conservation. The earliest were perhaps the scenery preservation societies which flourished in many centres in the 1890s.

In 1923 Captain Val Sanderson began what was then called the Native Bird Protection Society, and by his enthusiasm and energy nurtured and promoted the society through its early years. But no movement comes out of a void. ROSS GALBREATH looks at the conservation issues and ideas of those times.

Their new attitude toward the native bush that was fast disappearing from the hills was well expressed by W.P. Reeves’ widely-quoted poem "The Passing of the Forest", written in 1898, with its closing lament: ". . .[s this the price we pay — The price for progress — beauty swept away?" Such sentiments were voiced at this time even in Parliament. Legislation established national parks at Tongariro in 1894 and Taranaki in 1900, and in 1903 a Scenery Preservation Act was passed to provide for the reservation of other areas of particular scenic or natural beauty. There were limits, of course: land suitable for farming was not to be set aside, since, as the new Scenery Preservation Board put it, "the needs of settlement are imperative’. At the same time there were signs of a new, patriotic feeling for the native birds. In 1907 the natural history writer James Drummond declared that "the bell-bird’s song is even more bewitching to a New Zealander than the lark’s song is to an Englishman. The notes go straight to a New Zealander’s heart." Some moves had been made even in the nineteenth century to protect or preserve native birds. To begin with it had been more a matter of regulating the hunting of particular species, by special provisions under the game laws. The tui was an early sentimental favourite, and was given some protection in this way in 1873, followed by white heron and crested grebe in 1885. In 1892 huia was added to the protected list (at the request of both Ngati Huia of Otaki and the Governor, Lord Onslow), followed in 1896 by bellbird, kokako, kakapo, kiwi, saddleback, stitchbird (and tuatara). Kereru had been on and off the protected list for some years. But this statutory protection was not very effective. The very rarity of species such as huia made them sought-after as museum or drawingroom specimens, and the "collectors" who shot birds for this trade paid little heed to legal restraints.

HE NEXT approach to bird protection was to establish island reserves as arks of refuge for native species, where it was hoped they would be isolated from the introduced competitors, predators (especially the recently introduced and already widely detested stoats and weasels) and all the other effects of civilisation and progress on the mainland. Resolution Island was reserved for this purpose in 1891, Little Barrier Island in 1895 and Kapiti in 1897,

and efforts were made to try to transfer birds such as huia, kiwi and kakapo to them. Kapiti Island attracted particular attention. It still retained a certain mystique from its connection with the Maori warrior leader, Te Rauparaha, and it was also the most visible and accessible of the island reserves — and the nearest to the politicians in Wellington. In 1914 the state of the Kapiti Island reserve became a matter of public controversy. The northern

end of the island was still farmed by the Maori owners, but there was no proper boundary fence. The critics charged that the reserve was overrun with sheep and goats, destroying the very plants and animals it was intended to preserve. Among these critics in 1914 were E.V. (Val) Sanderson, and a new conservationist pressure group, named the New Zealand Forest and Bird Protection Society. This organisation had little if any connection with our present society. It

appears to have been set up by the conservationist politician H.G. Ell (cousin of the grandfather of current Forest and Bird president Gordon Ell). It certainly had an impressive letterhead, listing the Governor as patron and a number of eminent people as office-holders, including W. Guthrie-Smith, Professor H.B. Kirk, and Dr L. Cockayne. But it seems that it was a paper society only — there is no indication that it ever held a public meeting — and it soon faded away.

In 1916 another group with an interest in conservation sprang up. The New Zealand Forestry League was established by Sir James Wilson and Alexander Bathgate primarily to promote properly managed forestry in New Zealand, but also to preserve native forest. The dual aims of this society were summed up in its motto, "Preservation and Conservation" — with conservation used here in the forestry sense of careful management for future utilisation. By the 1920s the Forestry League had a membership of several hundred. It also sponsored a journal called Forest Magazine, edited by Will Lawson, a journalist and publicity agent with aspirations to become a writer and poet. The first number of Forest Magazine in February 1922 carried an article by Val Sanderson on "The Sanctuary of Kapiti Island". After returning from the war, Sanderson had revisited Kapiti and found that despite the earlier public criticism about damage to the reserve by wandering sheep and goats, little had been done by the departments responsible. With the support of like-minded friends, he raised the issue once again. "Kapiti ‘Sanctuary’ fenceless, therefore defenceless’’, ran the headlines; "Native birds need native bush"’

HILE THE Kapiti controversy was running hot, Parliament was considering the general issue of protection of native birds as part of a general consolidation of the game laws. The Animals Protection and Game Act passed in February 1922 incorporated an extended list of protected native birds. However, there was strong opposition to this from some quarters. Sportsmen of the acclimatisation societies considered that this time the legislators had gone too far in protecting species which had traditionally been regarded as game for hunters. They pressed the government to move paradise duck and pukeko from the protected list back to the "native game"’ category. In Parliament one of the strongest advocates for the protection of native birds was a former Prime Minister, Sir Thomas MacKenzie (H.G. Ell would have been another strong advocate, but he had lost his seat in 1919 and returned to Christchurch and other issues). MacKenzie mounted a personal campaign to keep paradise duck and pukeko on the protected list. In October 1922 he even introduced a Bill to ensure this, but the government, under pressure from sportsmen, did not to let it pass. MacKenzie

MEETING WAS held in Wellington on 28th March last to discuss the protection of native birds, Sir Thomas MacKenzie MLC occupied the Chair, and a number of prominent scientists and interested persons were present, including Ornithologists, Botanists, Entomologists, Foresters and Agriculturalists. . . Much interesting and valuable discussion took place on the value and importance of bird life to the community. Amongst other things mentioned an eminent forester remarked that "No forest in the world is so dependent on its bird life for pollination of flowers, distribution of seeds and control of destructive insects as that of New Zealand". He further impressed upon the meeting the fact that should our birds become extinct it would spell the certain death of our forests. Now considering the value of these forests to our own well-being, it is easy to conjure up the dire calamities that would surely

follow their destruction. It should be noted that this Society is formed to advocate strongly the necessity of efficient protection of our birds (where none exists at present) by bringing the control of all wildlife under one efficient organisation, and also advocating the institution of a "bird day" in our schools. The study of nature by our children would inculcate that love of country which is so essential to any nation, it would encourage observation and play a large part in the formation of the very best of individual characteristics in the future citizens of New Zealand, thus raising the nation to higher ideals and standards. part of a circular letter from Captain Sanderson in April 1923 to supporters of the new Native Bird Protection Society. Within two years the circulars to members had evolved into a bulletin, Birds, and then in 1933, Forest & Bird.

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then looked outside Parliament for support. He encouraged Sanderson to widen his Kapiti campaign: a body pressing for protection for native birds was needed to counter the opposition from the sporting lobby and apathy elsewhere. Sanderson took up the challenge. Initially he raised the idea with friends in the Forestry League and suggested that the league might extend its brief to include the protection of native birds. The Forestry League evidently declined this

proposal but did offer its cooperation and support for any new organisation which would press for the protection of native birds alongside its own work for the protection of native forests. Thus, it was in this context of cooperating with the league that the new Native Bird Protection Society was proposed and established at the inaugural public meeting organised by Sanderson in March 1923. Sanderson also proposed that Will Lawson’s Forest Magazine should be used as the official journal of the new society as it had been earlier by the Forestry League. This did not eventuate, as shortly afterwards Lawson moved on to bigger things in Sydney, and the magazine folded. Sanderson and the Native Bird Protection Society did, however, retain his Post

Office box (number 631 — still used by the society), and soon began its own journal, initially entitled Birds. For some years the Forestry League continued to assist the new society with financial and other support, but the society soon had much the stronger voice. Sanderson was its driving force and chief organiser. He built up a band of supporters and cultivated a network of contacts in newspapers throughout New Zealand. With their help he became a very effective publicist for the cause of conservation. By the 1930s the society was relatively well established, while the Forestry League was declining. It lacked leadership after the death of its first president, Sir James Wilson, and it also lacked a clear focus because of its dual interests in production forestry and preservation of native forests. But the Native Bird Protection Society was already widening its area of concern and taking up the League’s cause of native forests as well as birds. In October 1933 the Native Bird Protection Society changed the title of its journal from Birds to Forest & Bird. It is not clear whether there was any contact with the eccentrically aging H.G. Ell in Christchurch, but shortly after his death in 1934 the society went on to adopt the name of his earlier organisation. As the Forest and Bird Protection Society it has continued to flourish. %

Ross Galbreath is a scientist and historian with a special interest in the development of conservation in New Zealand.