Our 300th Issue

Forest and Bird, Issue 300, 1 May 2001, Page 34

Our 300th Issue

Forest & Bird is one of New Zealand's oldest magazines

ounded as the Society’s bulletin, 78 years ago, Forest & Bird this issue celebrates its 300th edition. Now, as through the years, its purpose is still to draw attention to New Zealand’s native animals and plants, its distinctive landscapes, and the need for their protection. The first five ‘bulletins’ of the Society survive in the Alexander Turnbull Library, largely in the form of typed letters to members beginning ‘Dear Sir, and appending printed press statements issued by the Society in preceding months. The concerns are so similar to those today that the Society’s initial efforts strike an immediate understanding with the reader 78 years on. In many cases only the context has changed. The challenge of habitat protection is a theme from the first issues; the threat of introduced pests and weeds is early apparent, while concern over declining bird numbers, and the need to educate the public in an understanding of our fragile environments, are as relevant today as they were in 1923. The concerns may not have changed but the country has. Some problems have intensified as New Zealand has continued to develop, but the possibilities for saving nature have also increased with the influence of science, particularly ecology. In May 1923, Forest and Bird was arguing that bird conservation could help control the £7 million worth of damage done to farms by insect life. It also observed: "The work of native birds is mainly confined to the welfare of our forests...which are largely dependent on birds for cross pollination, destruction of insect life, seed distribution &c.... It behoves those who want only to destroy native pigeons, the principal forest seed distributor, to ponder on such facts. Sound familiar? Helpfully, another corespondent urges: "There is no reason our native birds should die out ... with efficient care of our forests, and proper destruction of natural enemies. In November 1923, the journal took the form of printed Relative Notes submitted by The N.Z. Native Bird Protection Society circulated to members and the press. Items included the need to recognise manuka as

a nursery crop for regenerating forest, the damage done by grazing animals in forests, and bewailing the growing effects of introduced ‘opossums’. Shortly the bulletins evolved into a small magazine called Birds. It was digest-sized, printed in coloured type, with similarly tinted illustrations. From its first appearance, as bulletin number six in 1925, Birds took the broad view of native animals and plants as part of a wider environment. Its lead story was ‘A Plea for New Zealand for New Zealand, The Dangers of Acclimatisation. The author, J.G. Myers MSc, FES, RAOU, regards as ‘sinners against posterity, those whose patriotism rises no higher than a desire to create in New Zealand a paltry replica of other lands. His particular target is the introduction of heather to "Waimarino’s tussock plains. It is now, as predicted, a major weed in the central North Island. The Society's secretary Captain Val Sanderson blames the inroduced weasel as ‘one of the most probable causes of our wild bird life troubles’ The damage done by deer in forests was equally clear. From the beginning, photographs provided irrefutable evidence of the impact of introduced pests. Pollution too was noted. The effect of steamers discharging oil and killing birds in their slick was early recognised as a problem for seabirds. Birds was also a medium which recorded many early expeditions to remote places and offshore islands. The broader interests of the New Zealand Native Bird Protection Society (as Forest and Bird was originally known) were recognised when the name of the Journal changed to Forest and Bird in October 1933. The early Birds magazines are generally credited to the work of the Secretary (and founder) of Forest and Bird, Captain Val Sanderson. In 1932, the Society employed its first journalist, L.S. Fanning, to provide newspapers with articles about nature. His name and others were also connected with the development of a now more-sophisticated journal. It is a curiosity of Forest & Bird that, while its role developed, the presentation of the magazine floundered. Coloured covers, generally featuring bird paintings, gave it an attractive appearance through the difficult 1930s and even into the Second World War. Increasingly, however, the covers were reduced to one decorative colour; either red or green panels enclosing a black and white photograph often provided by the Government’s National Publicity Studios. It was not until the late 1970s, as the Society went through a

traumatic redefinition of its approach to conservation, that colour returned to the covers. The changing magazine through the 1970s reflected the redevelopment of the Society’s conservation stance, and the move to an approach of absolute protection for native wildlife, trees and plants. A vibrant magazine was to be part of the campaign to stop native logging, and the colour pictures told more dramatically than grey columns of type what was happening to the ‘last of the bush’. When the Society published the first of its A4-sized ‘modern’ magazines in 1984, the president of the time, A.A.T. Ellis QC wrote: "We have chosen to change to the proven A4 format to improve presentation both of pictorial and printed content. This is an expensive matter but it is very important indeed that the journal is appreciated and read. David Collingwood who had been both national conservation officer and ‘relieving editor and journal compiler’ since 1975 was succeeded by a professional editor, Gerard Hutching, in 1984. The Society’s new president, Dr Alan Edmonds was in Wellington on study leave from Waikato University that year and determined to develop the magazine as the Society’s flagship. Authoritative articles backgrounding New Zealand’s ecological crises were regularly presented along with evidential colour photographs. The Society was entering a new era of influence, with a bounding membership (up from 15,000 to 40,000 in the 10 years to 1983), and was now financially able to make the most of the colour-printing revolution. Despite the qualitative improvement in the appearance of the magazine, the central concerns of the Society were still highly recognisable; the first of the new issues carried stories about the Northland forests, the demand for irrigation water in Canterbury, and the plight of the sea lion. The first to be edited by Gerard Hutching included the need for reserve status for the tussock grasslands in the LammerlawLammermuir ranges of Otago, the need to protect nature in the Far North, and the plight of birds in high-country riverbeds. All these issues are, wholly coincidentally, revisited in the current journal; more evidence of Forest and Bird’s long-term advocacy for theatened places and species. Happily they also demonstrate that over the past two decades Forest and Bird has made real gains for nature. The fact that some issues have been on Forest and Bird’s agenda for nearly a century is not necessarily bad, or

discouraging. Conservation has moved into the mainstream of New Zealand life over the past two decades. One of our few remaining government departments is wholly dedicated to the protection of the natural world, while another Ministry monitors the effects of change on the environment. (In 1923, a major platform of Forest and Bird was to achieve a ‘unity of control’ over matters affecting wildlife) The Resource Management Act now governs what people can do to the land, taking account of ‘sustainability of the environment. Newspapers and mass circulation magazines carry frequent articles about conservation problems and local initiatives. Forest and Bird advocates appear frequently in the media, outlining conservation perspectives on topical issues. We should be glad that television programmes and editorial columns will now pick up on threats to our environment

and expose the implications in time to set things right. As a quarterly, Forest & Bird cannot compete with the immediacy of modern media, nor conduct the kind of debates which have now become mainstream news. Instead the journal takes a longer view, presenting information which highlights the values of things at risk and, hopefully, empowers its readers to act in their defence. It should also help people who like nature to enjoy it more, drawing attention to the fascinating as well as the endangered. The need for a more immediate, campaigning approach was recognised in the 1980s with the publication of a more topical sister publication, Conservation News, compiled by the Society’s conservation staff, and now delivered to all members with the journal. This does not have the long lead-times of a quarterly

magazine and is aimed at providing background for activists to campaign and lobby on more immediate issues. The interests of children in conservation have also been a concern of the Society since its first meeting called for a Bird Day in schools. The production of posters, junior membership, and children’s pages in Forest e& Bird continued for several decades. Since 1987, however, the Society has had a special children’s wing in the form of the Kiwi Conservation Clubs, and their formative interests are now better catered for in a separate and widely admired publication edited by the organiser, Ann Graeme. The emphases of the journal have changed but subtly with the expanding vision of the Society, and its different editors. During the 1990s, Ian Close produced an expanded magazine which also dealt with broader environmental issues, such as population control and urban transport. In recent years there has been a greater concentration on natural history features and illustrating the core environmental concerns of Forest and Bird. The journal has evolved over many years as a major element in the Society’s service to its members. Skimming through its 300 issues it is easy to see how it continually reflects the values and issues which the Society upholds. Look beyond the coloured illustrations, and contemporary presentation, and it’s surprising to note how in conservation what goes round, comes round, again and again. — GORDON ELL, publisher at The Bush Press, is a former national president of the Society. He has edited Forest & Bird on a part-time basis since 1998.