Abstract
AN important ciicular (No. 35, “New Zealand Official Year Book”, 1935. Government Printer, Wellington, New Zealand) by Mr. A. D. McGavock, director of forestry, deals with the present policy of the Government on the subject of the forests and forestry in New Zealand. The circular, which merits a careful perusal by all interested in the development of a forest policy for the Empire as a whole, accords full recognition to the importance of the remaining indigenous forests to the future well-being of the country, and emphasises the importance among other species of conserving the remaining Kauri forests. “It is the intention of the State Forest Service,” says the circular, “to bring the whole of the national Kauri forests under management plans which will ensure their perpetuation for all time.” The general forest policy in New Zealand may be stated as the perpetuation of the indigenous forests and the provision of a supplementary exotic-forest capital which, by rapid growth, will eke out the supplies of indigenous timber and bridge the gap between the exhaustion of the over-mature indigenous forests, which otherwise would occur, and their conversion into healthy production forests. With the establishment of the exotic plantations now approaching completion, it will be possible to give proper attention to the sylvicultural treatment of the indigenous forests. The timber supply position of the future envisages a balanced yield from both exotic and indigenous forests, and the future alone will determine the relative importance of the two sources of supply. The chief remaining source of anxiety is the gigantic problem of undertaking successfully the thinnings now becoming necessary in the enormous area of State and privately owned plantations, aggregating some 672,000 acres; for an adequately trained staff of sufficient strength to cope with this delicate work does not appear to exist.
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Forestry in New Zealand. Nature 137, 62 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137062b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137062b0