The Living Forests of New Zealand

Forest and Bird, Issue 268, 1 May 1993, Page 41

The Living Forests of New Zealand

Ian Close

by the New Zealand Native Forests Restoration Trust, (David Bateman Ltd) 1992, 224pp, $49.95 The Native Forests Restoration Trust grew out of Stephen King’s tree-sitting experiences in Pureora forest in the late 1970s. Set up in 1980, the trust has begun what David Bellamy described as the first major rainforest restoration project in the world — an attempt to link up the remnants of the oncegreat Pureora forest. As 6,000 hectares of pines are harvested from previously clearfelled land, native trees will be planted over a 30-year restoration period. The trust raises money through subscriptions, public appeals and government grants to purchase cut-over land and carry out its replanting schemes.. This book is an intelligent cof-fee-table publication, a story of a love affair with the forests of New Zealand based around 200plus wonderful forest photos by John Cobb and Geoff Moon. Although John Cobb’s text is reduced to two-page bites and long captions it manages to range eclectically through the country’s forests, their many facades and intricacies, from the rare survivors of the Three Kings to the stunted rata forests of Auckland Island. Along the way it examines cycles of change, cycles of regeneration, what happens beneath the leaf litter, how forests survive natural disasters, the frogs, the parrots, the fungi and other inhabitants (even the unwanted possums and the cats) which go to make up the intricate web of a forest ecosystem. A good pictorial introduction to what makes this country’s forests special.