Conservation Rises from the Ashes

The spectacular lotus grows out of the muck, so too it seems that New Zealand’s world leading commitment to conservation has grown out of a century of devastating forestry practices. 33% of the country is now protected wild land… pretty amazing, number 1 in the developed world, if not in all of the world. We are the beneficiaries, getting to explore some amazing places. But first for the amazing, and sad story of forestry practices in the late 19^th and early 20th centuries. Yes it is those British that are behind it all again (I remember them from the history of forestry practices in India). Here’s what we have learned about how they did it…

We did two beautiful trips to former forests of Kauri trees. By volume of wood, Kauri trees are the largest in the world. For whatever they do not achieve in height, they make up for in girth. Here is one of the two trees still standing in the Waitawheta area where we did a beautiful hike.

How did they cut trees like this by hand????... And then they had to get them down steep mountain slopes. Well you can’t say they were not ingenious. First they rigged up these huge wooden dams across mountain streams (see below), creating ponds behind the dams. Then they floated the logs into the ponds and waited until a huge rainstorm. As the additional water hurtled down to the ponds, they either opened the floodgates or dynamited the dams so that tons and tons of enormous logs came flying down the mountainside in an enormous rush of water, obliterating lots of things along the way. Of course they did not get the logs down in one go as they would get stuck. So then they would create additional dams, wait for rain, and blow them up again. Oh boy. They lost about 20% of the wood in the process. Some of the wood went to rebuild SF after the earthquake and lots of it was burned to run the gold mine smelters (yes they were interested in gold as well as wood).

With time, technology improved and they were able to get rail tracks up more of the slopes. Then they used horses and ultimately tractors to lug the huge logs on trolley carts on the tracks down the mountain (and horses and people died in the process). With time they were able to do more of the milling up the mountain and hence were transporting smaller boards and logs out.

Of course there was quite an intriguing bush man culture which grew up in the logging camps. They worked hard, very hard, were not paid much, and played hard when they could. In the Waitawheta valley, they managed to remove all of the trees like the one above in about 15 years with 50 guys. The owner got rich quickly as you might expect. Ultimately the landowners downstream stopped the dam strategy as it destroyed their streams!

Somehow ut of all that destruction came a recognition, starting in the 1960s through to the 1990s, that New Zealand forests were very special. They are the most unique in the world. The result is the wild land protected plus a total ban on logging in native forests (imagine doing that in Canada). There is still a lot of clearcut harvesting in tree plantation land, but no new cutting of native trees. There were some huge environmentalist-logging conflicts in the 70s and 80s but ultimately they resulted in a conservation consensus of sorts and a real pride in what forests are left.

Last week we went up to see the largest NZ trees and largest section of old growth Kauri forest. Our travel guidebook said it best, “you don’t go to see these trees, you come into their presence and honour them.” Everyone became quiet and moved through the trees in a deep and spiritual reflection. Tane Mahuta (Lord of the Forest) is the largest tree in the world by volume while Te Matua Ngahere (Father of the Forest) is the oldest here at 2800 years old. Contemplating the changes in the world since his seed germinated is mindboggling. We are only here for a very short flash of time. Standing beneath the trees I felt inspired to make sure that my flash was positive and in service to creation rather than destructive of it.

 In the presence of Tane Mahuta

Thousands and thousands of volunteers led by the Department of Conservation have been doing amazing things over the last 20 years to replant and restore the native forests. In a wet, warm climate where things grow twelve months a year, there has been remarkable progress. On first blush, not knowing any better, one would say the regenerating forests are lush and full grown. But as we spend more time in the forests, we can feel the difference between older and newer locales. Still the people are making amends for the destruction and the land is regenerating, It is pretty inspiring. Here is a young Kauri tree reaching for the light and the sky.

Side note: The Maori creation story is that sky Father Rangiuniand and earth Mother Papatuanuku were once embraced as one, but that left their son Tane Mahuta. stuck in between. So it was Tane who pushed his Father up and clothed his mother in the forest. All the creatures of the forest are his children.