Episode 4 of the envirohistory NZ podcast series is now out. This episode explores three environmental histories – which, while diverse in both their time-spans and their human protagonists, are all connected by a common theme. The first of these stories begins in the early 1800s, and features a Maori hapu and its relationship with its coastal Horowhenua environment [click here to read original post]. The next one, is of pioneering Scottish settlers in the 1840s, and their longsighted protection of a remnant of swamp forest in what was to become Christchurch [click here to read original post]. The third and final, more recent, story is of a dairy farmer and the indigenous forest remnant encompassed by his south Waikato farm [click here to read original post].
What these stories have in common is the fact that these people were all drawn to the landscape by its special natural features – an indigenous forest remnant in the first and last cases and the bush-enveloped lake and stream in the case of the hapu. They all fought hard to protect these environments so special to them – all leaving legacies beyond the bounds of the landscapes themselves.
4 September 10 Episode 4 – Three eras, three landscapes, three legacies (12: 03 mins)
Music credit (musical interlude): Polly’s song by Donnie Drost, available from CCmixter.
envirohistory NZ 
Beautiful stories! They are going to be useful around here with local body elections imminent.