envirohistory NZ

Of all the beautiful landscape photos that highly accomplished photographer and friend Rainer Kant took while he lived in New Zealand, this must be one of my favourites. What is particularly striking about this landscape is that it is the product of two very different landscapes: one indigenous and ancient; the other exotic and constructed entirely by human hand. In the background is the beech forest-covered mountains of Lewis Pass [click here to view approximate location], while in the foreground is pasture comprised of exotic grasses and buttercup. This region is one of the few in New Zealand where the exotic “production estate” and the indigenous conservation estate have not become entirely separate worlds. Here, they can be viewed in a single frame, and even the pasture is scattered with beech and other indigenous species.