Category: Forests

The Lost Taieri/Taiari Bush, near Dunedin, New Zealand

The location of Taieri Bush -cropped from 'Crown Grant Index Records Map. Taieri [and Waihola] Survey District. Constructed October 1859'. Archives New Zealand Item R10302830_01. (Creative Commons BY 2.0 license)

Leads to New Zealand’s  ‘lost forests’ turn up in all sorts of places. I was in the Dunedin Public Library when I came across the wonderful book ‘Under the Eye of the Saddle Hill Taniwha’ by Sharron Bray, Graeme Thomas, and Victor MacGill (1998). Their book reproduces an 1847 map of the Taieri (preferred spelling… Continue reading The Lost Taieri/Taiari Bush, near Dunedin, New Zealand

How to Thoroughly Confuse Everyone about Prescribed Burning in Australia

In the last couple of days, something of a ‘blue’ has developed among some Western Australian fire experts over ‘Prescribed Burning’ – the deliberate lighting of fires as part of fire management policy. On Jan 22, Byron Lamont and Tianhua He published a short opinion piece in ‘WAtoday’ called ‘Why prescribed burns don’t stop wildfires’.… Continue reading How to Thoroughly Confuse Everyone about Prescribed Burning in Australia

Did Queensland Rainforest Spread when Cultural Burning Stopped?

“This is the Giant Stinger tree – avoid it”. Work place health and safety now out of the way, I could then get on with introducing my students to Australia’s forests. *** In Queensland’s O’Reilly’s/Lamington Park I began my student classes with a walk down the road. There happened to be a convenient juvenile ‘Giant… Continue reading Did Queensland Rainforest Spread when Cultural Burning Stopped?

When New Zealand was a Burning Land

Broken River is a Hell of a place to get to. From Christchurch you need to head inland, driving along the road to Arthur’s Pass, the gateway to the West Coast. But then turn off and dog-leg back south along a narrow road beside, and sometimes actually along the railway line. There are 17 gates.… Continue reading When New Zealand was a Burning Land

New Zealand’s Doggerland

Do we have a submerged ‘Doggerland‘ in New Zealand? In 1950 a boat, the HMNZS ‘Lachlan’ dredged a sample of “lignite” from the bottom of Toitoi (or Toetoe) Bay, at the far south end of New Zealand’s South Island, from a depth of nine fathoms (the general view shown in the featured image. See below… Continue reading New Zealand’s Doggerland

The antifragile (?) tree-ferns of Omatepe, Nicaragua

“We’ll follow these guys – they’re three local hoodlums”, This from my local guide on Omatepe Island, Nicaragua. I was sitting behind him on his trail bike, and we were burning down the road after walking up Volcan Maderas, the smaller of the two volcanoes on the Island. *** My hostel, Soma, had organised my… Continue reading The antifragile (?) tree-ferns of Omatepe, Nicaragua

Geologising in the Rainforests of Aceh, Indonesia

Our Indonesian guide, with a parang (machete) in hand, dropped vertically in front of me, just brushing my face, while out of my peripheral vision I saw someone cartwheeling down through the trees. Then, within about two seconds, six people had vanished. I was alone in the forest. *** We were geologists, daily exploring the… Continue reading Geologising in the Rainforests of Aceh, Indonesia

The Lost Forests of Southland, New Zealand

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Forests that have disappeared so completely that you would hardly believe they really existed, have long fascinated me.  When I left my home in Alexandra for university in Dunedin, I took with me a facsimile map my mother had given me. It was a mid 19th century view of the Southland plains, the area sweeping… Continue reading The Lost Forests of Southland, New Zealand

Once a Vast Forest – Motatapu Track, New Zealand

Early on a cool Sunday morning I sipped my latte outside Relishes Cafe, Wanaka, and thought the immediate view could be better. In a somewhat typical urban New Zealand fashion, the lake is cut off from the cafe not just by a road, but a car park as well. However, the awesome view behind it,… Continue reading Once a Vast Forest – Motatapu Track, New Zealand