A History of Conservation in New Zealand

Forest and Bird, Issue 314, 1 November 2004, Page 7

A History of Conservation in New Zealand

—GORDON ELL

Our Islands, Our Selves: A History of Conservation in New Zealand by David Young, 297pp hardbound, Otago University Press, Dunedin 2004, RRP$59.95.

avid Young has D combined his skills as journalist and historian to produce Our Islands, Our Selves, a new book which surveys the growth of the conservation ethic in New Zealand from Maori times. It is a fascinating story, well-told, richly illustrated and beautifully presented, through the combined resources of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, the Department of Conservation, and the University of Otago Press. The story begins with the challenges which faced Maori as they exploited the natural world, pressing some species such as moa to extinction. The exploitative settlers from Europe accelerated the impact of people on the land; not only on birds and trees but on the very fabric of the land itself.

Erosion quickly followed land clearance. Parallel with the story of land clearance is the acclimatisation of foreign species into an environment which had developed without them. The book takes a chronological and thematic approach. This reveals the beginning of conservation awareness in the late nineteenth century, usually in terms of its advocates, backed with a careful assessment of the public mood. What conservation is about — its various and evolving shades of meaning — emerges in subsequent chapters. The author has consulted widely to tell the story of more recent events: the battles for Lake Manapouri, the West Coast and North Island forests, the

establishment of DoC. He also points to present failings and continuing challenges, particularly the preservation of the coastal and marine environment. If this book has shortcomings they would lie in its presentation of ‘nonpolitical’ events. There’s no mention of the involvement of the citizen bodies which devised DoC’s conservation management strategies; popular conservation initiatives in the grassroots community (such as building the ‘open sanctuary’ on Tiritiri Matangi Island) are erratically acknowledged — Waitakere Forest and Bird’s ‘Ark in the Park’ initiative is credited instead to local

Pe | government. Within the extremely broad brief the author has chosen, however, these are minor matters: David Young’s achievement is generally a comprehensive and well-told story.