Dr Catherine Knight will be presenting a talk on November 2nd about the history of Totara Reserve as part of this year’s Manawatu Local History Week [click here to download programme]. Entitled “Totara Reserve: a window into Manawatu’s environmental history“, the talk will explore how Totara Reserve was preserved initially for its timber, but within a few decades, when lowland forest elsewhere in the Manawatu had all but vanished, became a prized scenic and recreational reserve. By tracing the history of the reserve, we can better understand the changing attitudes and values of New Zealanders towards our natural heritage. (more…)
October 16, 2011
Manawatu history talk: Totara Reserve
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: Dr Catherine Knight, Environmental History, Jill White, Local History Week, lowland forest, Manawatu history, Palmerston North, Palmerston North City Library, podocarp forest, Pohangina River, Pohangina Valley, seminar, totara, Totara Reserve |1 Comment
July 7, 2011
Farm landscape in the Horowhenua
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: lowland forest, deforestation, Horowhenua, Papaitonga, Paul Knight, Levin, nikau, Wellington-Manawatu Railway Line, 1886, Kilsby, Nikaunui, farm, Stirling University Research Centre for Environmental History and Policy, private reserves |Leave a Comment
I recently sent this photo from the envirohistory NZ banner to the Stirling University Research Centre for Environmental History and Policy to be used on their related links page. When I did so, I thought it may be a good opportunity to share the “back story” of the photo.
The photo is taken by veteran photographer, Paul Knight, of a farm just north of the Horowhenua town of Levin [click here to view location]. The farm, called Nikaunui, meaning “many (or big) nikau palms” in Maori, is a large sheep and beef farm, owned by the Kilsby family,* a family with a long history in the district. (more…)
October 31, 2010
The slaying of our kahikatea forests: how Jurassic giants became butter boxes
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: Bagnall Brothers, berries, butter boxes, Captain Cook, dairy farms, Dean's Bush, dinosaurs, Environmental History, Geoff Park, Jurassic Period, kahikatea, lowland forest, New Zealand, Nga Manu, Nga Uruora, pterosaurs, Turua, Waihou River, Waikato |1 Comment
New Zealand’s tallest forest tree, the kahikatea (Dacrycarpus dacrydioides), once dominated the forests that covered much of New Zealand’s swampy lowland areas. Far from a solitary tree, the kahikatea groups closely with other kahikatea, intertwining its buttressed roots with its neighbours for support in the unstable swampy ground. (It is perhaps for this reason that the kahikatea has evolved with such a tall, straight trunk with no lower branches, to enable it to “huddle” with others for stability). In autumn, throughout the lowlands of New Zealand, numerous forest birds chattered noisily in its canopy, feeding on its abundant red berries. These berries, called koroī, were also a valued food source for Māori, who skillfully climbed up the smooth branchless trunks to harvest them. (more…)
August 28, 2010
Preserving a lowland forest survivor on the volcanic plateau
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: bush remnant, Country Life, covenants, farmer, ignimbrite, kahikatea, Karen McLeay, lowland forest, Mamaku, milling, New Zealand, QEII Trust, Radio NZ, rimu, tawa, timber industry, Waikato |1 Comment
Radio New Zealand’s “Country Life” programme is a favourite of mine – as a born-and-bred “townie” – I enjoy the insights it provides into living off the land – whether as a farmer, horticulturalist, or cottage industry owner. The programme also features stories which provide important insights from an environmental history perspective.
The most recent programme features a story about a southern Waikato farmer who, after growing up seeing the lowland indigenous forest around her town decimated by forestry, is covenanting 4 hectares of remnant bush on her farm in Mamaku [click here to view location] to ensure its future preservation. The bush is dominated by tawa, rimu and kahikatea, and is one of the last surviving remnants on this ignimbrite plateau which was once covered in dense forest. (more…)
November 16, 2009
A Kapiti environmental history – Nga Manu Nature Reserve
Posted by envirohistorynz under short essay | Tags: ecosystem, John Salmon, Kapiti Coast, Kapiti Island, lowland forest, Nga Manu, Peter McKenzie, swamp forest |1 Comment
This nature reserve, established in 1974, demonstrates the cyclical nature of our environmental history. It started with a small remnant of swamp forest that had escaped the fate of wholesale clearance suffered by all other swamp forest in the Kapiti region (and beyond).
The founders of the reserve* approached the farmer who owned the land – which was part of a sheep and beef farm at the time – about leasing the 13 hectare block which included the remnant forest. The farmer, Moss Smith, was somewhat bemused by their fervent interest in this boggy, “unproductive” piece of land, but in the end agreed to their request.
The original objective of the founders was to establish a bird sanctuary (hense the name Nga Manu – “the birds” in Maori) - it was only later that they realised the immense significance of the area and opportunity it provided to protect the largest remnant of coastal lowland swamp forest on the Kapiti Coast. To this end, the Trust later purchased the land outright. (more…)
July 8, 2012
Did European settlers loathe the forest?
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: attitudes, bush, Environmental History, forest, Graeme Wynn, historical geography, John Gully, lowland forest, New Zealand, Paul Shepard, Paul Star, perceptions |[2] Comments
Since then, a number of historians and historical geographers have explored this question further, including Jock Phillips in his 1981 paper “Fear and loathing of the New Zealand landscape”, and Paul Star in his 2003 article “New Zealand environmental history: a question of attitudes”. (more…)
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