Differences in Pholosophy when it comes to Conservation

This is the Waianakarua River in flood - taken from Frame's Crossing just below my property

near the center of the picture is the iconic Lombardy Poplar.

Along with my forestry colleagues I have been responsible of converting poor, gorse infested land into productive forestry. Along the way we have protected indigenous flora and fauna and we have opened areas up to the public, so they can experience the uniqueness of the Lower Kakanui Range.

The use of pine trees to control gorse is a well established practice, as gorse does not thrive when daylight has been excluded. Indeed on my own property I have successfully controlled gorse by planting Poplar androscoggin.  

We have had our share of critics over the years:

Monoculture causing an exodus of indigenous wildlife. Ha! I see more native birds in an hour than I saw in a day's trip to Mount Cook and walking up to the Hooker Glacier Lake.

Our bulldozer formed a firebreak on a boundary on the property purchased from Kemp. Lands and Survey demanded that we plant the firebreak with native plants, as some Manuka were pushed out. Well we needed the firebreak but anyone with a smidgen of intelligence would know that establishing native plants on what was almost bedrock, was nigh on impossible. The plantings were a waste of time and resources. We have protected far larger areas of native bush than a  few metres of blade-width bedrock!

The Kemp block was adjacent to the Trotters Gorge Scenic Reserve and there was solid gorse on the common boundary. So the gorse was cleared to the fenceline during land preparation and to suppress the gorse, we planted trees right to the boundary. Well Lands and Survey demanded that we remove the trees 20 metres back as was the legal requirement. So we pulled the trees out and the jungle of gorse returned to the boundary - creating a fire hazard.

Submissions responded to after our invitation

Another submission was that the top of South Peak was to be left unplanted  - so people could climb up and look out. One of the lads planted his initials up there and the trees [now over 25 years old] can still be seen. Nobody ever climbed up there.

 

This picture taken 1916 shows the lower end of Mount Misery Road and up into the hills. The area is either barren or gorse-covered showing the aggressiveness of the gorse which has escaped from hedges. So clothing the area in forest has been successful.

In the foreground is the North Branch of the Waianakarua River - just downstream from my property.

When I purchased the property in 1967, the river looked beautiful with Crack Willow growing each side of the river. Catchment Board & later, the Regional Council did/do not like Crack Willow, so they were sprayed over the years and the old adage - remove one weed and you get another - so Old man's Beard, Buddleia davidii, broom and blackberry crept in.

Because the forest controls runoff, there are not the real flushes when the river floods, unless logging causes a clear catchment area.

I asked a contractor to remove a Pussy Willow that had been washed and jammed in the center of the river bed - but he told me he would be fined by the Regional Council.

Well a few weeks ago, a helicopter flew down the river spraying the gravel areas and killing grasses and other weeds - the Pussy Willow seems still to be healthy.

Last year a helicopter with an elephant thingi spot sprayed Old Man's Beard but the weed was already in winter dormancy so the effectiveness was below par.

Another guy up the river installed gabion baskets to protect his property from erosion, but the Regional Council forced him to remove them.

In the early 1980's there was a big flood and slipping on the main road. The [now extinct] Ministry of Works dumped truckloads of clay in the middle of the flooded river - expecting it to be washed to sea. Not so, the gravels need to roll in the river bed and so the flood took away the south bank with a crop of turnips!

So a lot has happened to the Waianakarua River and I was happy to provide some advice and participate in the planting project at the mouth of the river and under the auspices of the Herbert Heritage Group.

Donning my other hat - that of a nurseryman - one of the great challenges was supplying tree and shrub species to people requiring shelter in coastal areas. The options are very limited.

To customers, the most important thing is good plant survival and performance.

The other great challenge was this ting called 'Eco-sourcing'  - that is plants to be planted in an area are to be progeny of plants already there. Easy to say and difficult to do [for reasons that don't need to be spelled out here]. But there are times when perhaps it is appropriate and others that just cause an extra cost for no gain.

The area at the Waianakarua River mouth is gorse infested [not vigourous on account of the coastal conditions] and broom [which was quite healthy].

Blakely Pacific Limited sponsored some of the trees or shrubs and Oregon Nurseries supplied and donated some as well. I encourage the participants to grow on plants that appeared in their gardens.

The idea was to grow as many endemic species as possible and perching or bird-feeding species to attract birds and their payload of other species. Basic shelter to start the project off.

The most successful has been Chatham Island Ake Ake, Olearia traversii.

Wayne called me the other day, a representative of Forest and Bird, who may well take over the plantings at the river mouth.

He has a strict philosophy that the Waianakarua River mouth is a special area [we all knew that] and only Eco-sourced plants should be planted there.

Wayne told me that he had spent twenty days removing wildling pines in North Otago. My philosophy is that wildling could be an opportunity - though not Pinus contorta.

Further, he enjoyed destroying plants that were growing where he thought they should not be, and high on his list are Chatham Island Ake Ake, Olearia paniculata (H H Allan records the natural range to be North of Oamaru - 25 km to the North) and any other exotic species. He did not mention gorse, Buddleia  or broom.

Actually the weeds have proliferated with land change - Browns farmed sheep to the river edge and the present dairy farmers have fenced off the area which is now ungrazed.

So the Waianakarua River mouth might well be under the care of Forest and Bird and a different philosophy, but I wonder if this would happen if that original meeting of the Herbert Heritage Group had not been called.

By the way, who was that guy Kerr?