Waipoua Forest
Encyclopedia
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. It is notable for having two of the largest living kauri trees, Tane Mahuta
Tane Mahuta
Tāne Mahuta is a giant kauri tree in the Waipoua Forest of Northland Region, New Zealand. Its age is unknown but is estimated to be between 1,250 and 2,500 years old. It is the largest kauri known to stand today...
and Te Matua Ngahere
Te Matua Ngahere
Te Matua Ngahere is a giant kauri coniferous tree in the Waipoua Forest of Northland Region, New Zealand. The tree's Maori name means "Father of the Forest". Although not as massive or tall as its neighbour Tāne Mahuta, Te Matua Ngahere is stouter, with a girth just over...
.
The forest was declared a sanctuary in 1952.
A community based volunteer organization, the Waipoua Forest Trust, helps maintain the forest.
Location
The Waipoua Forest is located on the west coast of the Northland Region and is associated with the neighbouring Waima and Mataraua Forests.The forest sanctuary is bordered to the south by the 350 hectares (864.9 acre) Professor W.R McGregor Reserve, named after W.R. McGregor (1894–1977).
In the 1940s, McGregor successfully campaigned to end logging of the Waipoua kauri forest and to have the forest dedicated as a sanctuary in 1952.
Ecology
The Waipoua, Warawara and Puketi Forests together contain about three quarters of New Zealand's remaining mature kauriAgathis australis
Agathis australis, commonly known as the kauri, is a coniferous tree found north of 38°S in the northern districts of New Zealand's North Island. It is the largest but not tallest species of tree in New Zealand, standing up to 50 m tall in the emergent layer above the forest's main canopy. The...
trees.
The Waipoua forest holds the largest remaining stand of these trees.
It contains Te Matua Ngahere
Te Matua Ngahere
Te Matua Ngahere is a giant kauri coniferous tree in the Waipoua Forest of Northland Region, New Zealand. The tree's Maori name means "Father of the Forest". Although not as massive or tall as its neighbour Tāne Mahuta, Te Matua Ngahere is stouter, with a girth just over...
, a notable kauri tree that is the largest in New Zealand by girth and the second largest by volume, and is estimated to be from 2,000 to 3,000 years old.
The trees are threatened by the fungus Phytophthora taxon Agathis.
The Waipoua Forest Trust has called for urgent action by the government to find a cure for the problem.
The forest has the largest population of North Island brown kiwi
Kiwi
Kiwi are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand, in the genus Apteryx and family Apterygidae.At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size of any species of bird in the world...
in Northland. Populations of the endangered North Island kokako
Kokako
The Kōkako is a forest bird which is endemic to New Zealand. It is slate-grey with wattles and a black mask. It is one of three species of New Zealand Wattlebird, the other two being the endangered Tieke and the extinct Huia...
can be found in the high plateau country.
A forest fire
Wildfire
A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...
threatened Waipoua Forest in early 2007. The fire broke out on the 1st of February after someone had been cooking mussels on an open fire at a nearby beach. The fire burnt pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
plantation adjoining the native forest, but destroyed ecologically significant wetland vegetation, and came within 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) of the iconic Tāne Mahuta. The blaze was fought by local fire fighters
New Zealand Fire Service
The New Zealand Fire Service is New Zealand's national fire fighting body. While its founding legislation, the Fire Service Act 1975, only provides for this role, the organisation has assumed responsibility for several other areas.-Strategic Direction:The New Zealand Fire Service has defined for...
and conservation
New Zealand Department of Conservation
The Department of Conservation , commonly known by its acronym, "DOC", is the state sector organisation which deals with the conservation of New Zealand’s natural and historic heritage...
volunteers, who managed to stop its spread using helicopters and fire breaks. Millions of dollars of pine and many endangered birds were lost, including an estimated 20 North Island brown Kiwi
North Island Brown Kiwi
The North Island Brown Kiwi, Apteryx mantelli, Apteryx australis or Apteryx bulleri before 2000 , is a species of kiwi that is widespread in the northern two-thirds of the North Island of New Zealand and, with about 35000 remaining, is the most common kiwi.-Taxonomy:Until 2000, the Brown Kiwi was...
. In all the fire claimed over 2 square kilometre (0.77220431718507 sq mi) of vegetation.
History
The Waipoua Forest was bought from Maori in 1876 for a little over 2 thousand pounds. At the time it covered approximately 80 square kilometres (30.9 sq mi).In 1885 the Waipoua Forest came under the provision of the State Forests Act, and an area of 90 km² was constituted a State Forest Reserve.
One of the reasons for its escape from destruction in earlier days was its remoteness combined with the difficulty of extracting its timber. Another was, that like the Warawara to the North, rainfall was more consistent and abundant so that Maori and European fires had not engulfed it (as happened to the Kaihu, Puhipuhi and large parts of the Coromandel forest in the 1870s and 1880s).
In 1907 the Waipoua Forest, the Warawara forest and one or two other smaller reserves were the only virgin kauri forests left belonging to the state.
In 1913 a Royal Commission on Forestry recommended that a specially selected area of 0.8 square kilometre (0.308881726874028 sq mi) of the Waipoua forest, and the whole of the Warawara Forest of 50 square kilometres (19.3 sq mi), be established as national kauri forests for the people of New Zealand.
In 1926 a road was put through Waipoua Forest with the purpose of providing an approach to the lands of neighboring settlers.
In the 1940s it became known that the State Forest Service was cutting kauri at Waipoua. In 1947 the Whangarei Progressive Society, in association with the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, the Waipoua Preservation Society, and other organizations
secured 50,000 signatures to Parliament in a wheelbarrow. Its hope was that 160 square kilometres (61.8 sq mi) at Waipoua should be set aside for all time, inviolate from interference by man. Other petitions followed, and on 2 July 1952 an area of over 80 square kilometres (30.9 sq mi) was proclaimed a forest sanctuary.
The zoologist William Roy McGregor
William Roy McGregor
William Roy McGregor was a New Zealand zoologist and conservationist who was successful in halting forestry in the Waipoua forest and establishing the forest as a protected sanctuary.-Academic career:...
was one of the driving forces in this movement, writing an 80-page illustrated pamphlet on the subject, which proved an effective manifesto for conservation.
In the late 1960s, in violation of the 1913 recommendations, adopted de facto, the National Government initiated clear felling in the Warawara forest. This was not stopped until 1972 following a large public outcry and fulfillment of an election promise of the incoming Labor Government. In this short period, approximately 1/5 of the forest was felled (about 1/4 by timber volume).
Waipoua Forest Trust
The Trust is a joint partnership between the Native Forest Restoration Trust
Native Forest Restoration Trust
Founded in 1980, the New Zealand Native Forests Restoration Trust is an organisation involved in forest restoration.Since then, the Trust has acquired land at the rate of 250 ha per year to protect important species, restore their habitats and to improve the quality of waterways...
and Te Roroa
Te Roroa
Te Roroa is a Māori iwi from Northland, New Zealand....
, the Māori guardians of Waipoua.
The two organizations help guide the New Zealand Department of Conservation
New Zealand Department of Conservation
The Department of Conservation , commonly known by its acronym, "DOC", is the state sector organisation which deals with the conservation of New Zealand’s natural and historic heritage...
in its management role.
Property
In March 2000 the New Zealand Minister of Internal Affairs, Mark BurtonMark Burton
Richard Mark Burton is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the Labour Party. He served as Minister of Defence; Minister of Justice; Minister of Local Government; Minister in Charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations; Deputy Leader of the House; and the Minister Responsible for the Law...
, launched the Millennium Kauri Forest to the south of the Waipoua Forest, giving a $1.4 million lottery grant and a gift of land title to the Waipoua Forest Trust.
Most of the money went towards further purchases of land to protect the southern boundaries of the forest.
The Trust co-operates with the Native Forest Restoration Trust
Native Forest Restoration Trust
Founded in 1980, the New Zealand Native Forests Restoration Trust is an organisation involved in forest restoration.Since then, the Trust has acquired land at the rate of 250 ha per year to protect important species, restore their habitats and to improve the quality of waterways...
, which operates the Professor McGregor Reserve. It has bought farmland to the north of the McGregor Reserve, helping preserve the southern boundary of the Waipoua catchment.
Through a Queen Elizabeth II National Trust
Queen Elizabeth II National Trust
The Queen Elizabeth II National Trust is a statutory New Zealand organisation independent from Government and managed by a Board of Directors...
covenant, the trust administers about 16 ha of the Marlborough Road forest to the south of the Waipoua reserve.
Activities
The trust is attempting to save the last of the ancient kauri trees, and to assist the wildlife in the park to recover.Stephen King is the driving force behind the trust, which is actively engaged in reseeding and converting previously logged land to its original forested state. The trust is also working on establishing a kiwi hatchery.
King has helped raise awareness through a photographic display at the Kauri Museum
Kauri Museum
The Kauri Museum is in the west coast village of Matakohe, Northland, New Zealand.The museum, to the south of the Waipoua Forest, contains many exhibits that tell the story of the pioneering days when early European settlers in the area extracted kauri timber and kauri gum.The museum has over 4000...
at Matakohe
Matakohe
Matakohe is a settlement in Northland, New Zealand. The Matakohe River is a short river which runs from the north into the Arapaoa River, which is part of the Kaipara Harbour. State Highway 12 passes through Matakohe. Ruawai is 16 km to the west, and Paparoa is 6 km north east...
.
The ASB Community Trust granted the Waipoua Forest Trust $810,000 in 2007.
Volunteers engage in weeding previously planted areas, maintaining the ground, collecting flax seed, and monitoring and eradicating pests such as rats and possums.
As of June 2007 the trust had invested more than NZ $4 million in land protection and restoration.
The trust has been supported by Kaipara District
Kaipara District
-Geography:Kaipara District is located in the low hills around the northern shores of the Kaipara Harbour, a large natural harbour open to the Tasman Sea...
council in its application to the Ministry for the Environment for funding to replant areas within the Domain with indigenous vegetation.
In November 2007 the trust raised an outcry over a decision by the department of conservation to cut down a 600-year-old kauri tree as part of a road widening project.
In April 2009, Alex Nathan, who is chairman of both Te Roroa Whatu Ora and Waipoua Forest trust, met with his counterpart from the Yakushima
Yakushima
, one of the Ōsumi Islands, is an island of about 500 km² and roughly 15,000 islanders to the south of Kyūshū in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The Vincennes Strait separates it from Tanegashima. The highest point on the island is Miyanoura-dake at 1,935 metres...
community in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, which has similar concerns about preserving ancient giant trees. The two leaders launched the "Family of Ancient Trees" project to raise mutual awareness and encourage eco-tourism.
The agreement followed a series of visits and talks between members of the trust and other concerned New Zealand groups and their opposite numbers in Japan.
In May 2009 the trust was one of the sponsors of the Waipoua Forest run, in which many Japanese visitors participated.
External links
- Waipoua Forest: Kauri Coast places to visit Department of Conservation information page