Re: Conservation in New Zealand

K1MIZE@aol.com wrote:
> 
> Moira:
> 
> Of course, you would know better than I, but I believe I read somewhere that
> something on the order of 80% of New Zealand's indigenous flora is endemic,
> that is, found nowhere else on earth.  I don't know if there is something like
> a "New Zealand Native Plant Society," but there certainly ought to be! (snip)
 By the way, I've greatly enjoyed reading your
> postings (and Tony's) from the southern hemisphere, and I wish you and all our
> medit-plant friends a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  Hoping tomorrow is
> warmer after several "hard freeze" days here in northern California,

Dear Kurt
I now have two posts to answer from you on the subject of the NZ native
flora.

I guess our limited but largely unique flora, like our strange limited
fauna  (Three bats, three or four frogs, lots of birds, a few lizards,
an incredibly ancient reptile the Tuatara(Sphenodon) and plenty of
invertibrates) are the result of our _very_ long isolation in the middle
of the sea. We seem to have separated from Gonwanaland at a very early
stage (well back in the time of the dinosaurs) and almost the only extra
living things which could be acquired before the advent of man (around a
thousand years ago for the Maori) were things which could either fly,
blow, float or awim the fifteen hundred miles over from Australia.

Although the early European settlers did not value this extraordinary 
collection and did their best to turn the country into another England,
modern New Zealanders are becoming increasingly concerned over our
heritage, and many inititives are taking place to preserve  as far as
possible what is still there after the inroads of farming, the cutting
and burning of forests, and the land taken for towns etc. We have an
active Department of Conservation which has set aside numerous national
parks, special reserves and heritage areas and there are two major
conservation societies and a number of special trusts which are aiding
the process. Foremost among these is the Royal Forest and Bird
Protection Society (familiarly known as Forest and Bird) which not only
encourages the public to appreciate and visit wild areas and is active
in the preservation of untouched wilderness, but also is a vigorous
watchdog of all legislation affecting conservation. We ourselves belong
not only to Forest and Bird but also to a trust which is based in
Wellington, actually within the city boundaries, where a still largely
wooded valley of approximately 600 acres containing two now
decommissioned dams is being surrounded by a vermin-proof fence, with a
view to making it a sanctuary for native flora and fauna. The fence was
started a few weeks ago and is expected to be completed by next August.
Once it is in place all cats, rats, mice, possums, mustelids and even
hedgehogs within will be exterminated (with the aid of the Dept of
Conservation) and such native flora and fauna as were originally
resident swill be encouraged, or in many cases re-introduced. The idea
is to reproduce a slice of old Wellington, such as might have been
experienced by early settlers about 150 years ago, and which has been
all but exterminated since. Much of our native fauna (which is poorly
equipped to cope with man and his hangers-on) now depends for its
survival on off-shore island sanctuaries, and this is intended to be in
the nature of an "on-shore island" - an experiment being closely watched
by conservationists in other parts of the world. 

While little can be done about the animals until then fence is in place
there is a very active group clearing out introduced plants and
replacing them with suitable native species raised in their own
nurseries. I have helped in the nursery a little and would have liked to
do more but age and distance make this somewhat difficult.

Another conservation feature locally is the Wellington Parks  Otari
Native Plant Garden, a considerable area devoted to the cultivation of
native plants only. They do a good job, with their display beds, of
calling to the notice of the public the possibilities of using native
plants in horticulture and also do active work in teaching this and in
the distribution of seeds. Being almost at the mid-point of the country
they are able to grow a large part of our native flora, though the
climate is unsuitable for either the most frost-tender northerners, or
the high alpine plants from the various mountain areas in either main
island.

So I think one might say that our natural heritage is really beginning
to be appreciated and hopefully the efforts to preserve it will prove
sufficient.

A Happy New Year to you and all "Mediterranears"

Moira

-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index