Today, the Petone and Lower Hutt area is an intense conglomeration of industrial, commercial and residential buildings and infrastructure – interconnected by motorways, roads and railways – concentrated within the confines of the sea to the south and the steeply rising hills of the valley to the west and east. Within this landscape of steel, glass, concrete and asphalt, it is hard to believe that only 170 years ago, this was thickly forested floodplain and estuary, rich with teeming birdlife – including the now extinct huia, and the endangered kokako. (more…)
November 13, 2010
The valley of disappointment
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: Aurora, Britannia, Charles Heaphy, colonisation, Environmental History, estuary, floodplain, forest, Geoff Park, Heretaunga River, huia, Hutt Valley, kahikatea, kokako, Maori, Michael King, New Zealand, Nga Uruora, Petone, Pito one, podocarp forest, pollution, Port Nicholson, Seaview, the New Zealand Company, Waiwhetu Stream |Leave a Comment
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…)
October 25, 2010
Landscape and history
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: Canterbury, ecology and history, Environmental History, Frank Gohlke, Geoff Park, landscape, New Zealand, Nga Uruora, photographer, photography, Rainer Kant, Seddon, skyscape |Leave a Comment
Prefacing the Introduction of Geoff Park’s masterpiece of ecology and history “Nga Uruora – Ecology and History in a New Zealand Landscape” is a quote from Frank Gohlke, American landscape photographer and writer [click here to view website]:
Landscapes are collections of stories, only fragments of which are visible at any one time. In linking the fragments, unearthing the connections between them, we create the landsape anew. A landscape whose story is known is harder to dismiss… (more…)
January 16, 2011
Saving our last riverine forest – the era of scenery preservation
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: 1903, burial grounds, burial kahikatea, coastal forests, coastal plains, Cort Schnackenberg, Environmental History, Geoff Park, Harry Ell, kahikatea, Maori Land, missionary, Mokau River, Native Land Court, New Zealand, Nga Uruora, Ngati Maniapoto, Percy Smith, river flats, riverine forests, scenic reserves, soldier settlers, tapu, Taranaki, Tauwhare, The Scenery Preservation Act, the Scenery Preservation Commission, tree burials, wahi tapu, Waikato, World War One |1 Comment
Share this:
Like this: