New Zealand ecology

The Lost Totara Forests of Central Otago

A straight log, probably totara, in the headwaters of the Waikerikeri Valley. Photographed by the author (Mike Pole), in 1978. The original is in 'portrait' format, and it has been digitally added to on either side to fit the 'landscape' porportion of my blog images. The additions should be fairly obvious.

In my Fifth Form year at Dunstan High School, Alexandra, my Biology Teacher was Peter Child. He retired shortly afterwards, and as his Obituary puts it (Pierce, 1986), this was a ‘liberation’! Yes, I was one of the local yokels in a small country town, a posting that must have severely tried the sanity of… Continue reading The Lost Totara Forests of Central Otago

Was there a Forest before Central Otago’s Kowhai Forest?

A relict, but dead, kowhai, on the slopes of Criffel Peak. Directly behind the kowhai is Mount Roy - with relict beech forest. Lake Wanaka is to the right. Image: the author (Mike Pole).

When humans arrived in New Zealand, a bit over 700 years ago (Wilmshurst et al., 2008; Jacomb et al., 2014), it seems some of the driest parts of the country, in Central Otago, were under low forest, dominated by kowhai (Pole, 2022). Specifically, this was on the lower slopes of the gorges and slopes of… Continue reading Was there a Forest before Central Otago’s Kowhai Forest?

Dunedin’s Saddlebacks/Tieke and Yellowheads/Mopua

Three saddlebacks/tieke on Ulva Island (Stewart Island group, New Zealand). Photo: the author (Mike Pole)

Amateur field observations of species can be priceless. A local Dunedin man (Peter Thomson, 1823-1879), using the pen-name ‘Pakeha’, wrote several accounts of his ‘rambles’ around the area between 1864 and 1879. They appeared in Dunedin’s newspapers the Otago Witness and the Otago Daily Times (see articles by the historian Paul Star, 1998, and by… Continue reading Dunedin’s Saddlebacks/Tieke and Yellowheads/Mopua

Green Island Bush – Divide and Conquer

Relict trees from what was Green Island Bush, Saddle Hill in the background. Tree in the foreground is Broadleaf, Grisellnia littoralis. Photo: the author (Mike Pole).

Green Island Bush is a prime example of a large patch of New Zealand indigenous forest that was essentially annihilated in the late nineteenth century. It lay between today’s Green Island suburb, on Dunedin’s Southern Motorway, and the coast. Today the area is mainly farmland. Its original extent is shown partly on Charles Kettle’s 1849… Continue reading Green Island Bush – Divide and Conquer

The Lost Ecosystem of the Leith Swamp Forest, Dunedin

A portion of 'Kettle's 1847 map, 'Otago Land District SO 6’, showing the 'Leith Delta'. The green shading is interpreted as mostly 'bush/forest'.

One part of Dunedin is different from the rest…. The Dunedin area is an old volcano. It’s formed mostly from the molten, or semi-molten material that forced its way up from below, or some of the older marine strata that this material pushed its way through. In the few million years since the Dunedin volcano… Continue reading The Lost Ecosystem of the Leith Swamp Forest, Dunedin

Dunedin’s Ghost-Forests in 1901

A portion of one of W.T. Neill's maps showing a simple green-coloured patch an the left - interpreted as indigenous 'bush/forest. To the north and east are patches that are uncoloured, but filled with stipple, and have been partially trimmed to property lines - interpreted as 'ghost forest/bush'. This is in what is now the Fairfield area of Dunedin today, and has been cropped from: R23188990. Sheet No. 25 - Military Topographical Plan - Blocks VII and VIII Dunedin and East Taieri District - W T Neill, Surveyor (1907). Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington. (CC BY 2.0).

When a forest is dead, but somehow still there – either as bleached stumps, and felled, and possibly burnt trunks, I call it a ghost-forest. There were vast areas of ghost-forest (or ‘ghost-bush’ if you like) throughout New Zealand in the 19th century (see Envirohistory NZ’s post: ‘Scorched forest farm – Wildbore cache no.7‘ for… Continue reading Dunedin’s Ghost-Forests in 1901

The Lost Bush of South Dunedin

The patch of forest (green, at center-right) indicated on Kettle's (1847) map of the Dunedin area Kettle’s 1847 map (Otago Land District SO 6). From a digital copy of supplied by Dunedin author, Ian Dougherty. The larger patch at upper left is above the motorway, opposite Caversham.

We owe so much of what we know of early Dunedin to just a few artists! Up till 1850, there’s only a dozen or so publicly accessible images of what the place looked like, and four of those, that I know of, are by members of the Valpy family.. William and Caroline Valpy came to… Continue reading The Lost Bush of South Dunedin

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

Moa ate kōwhai

Moa skull with kowhai foliage

A little over 700 years ago, humans finally discovered the last habitable place on Earth, Aotearoa-New Zealand (Wilmshurst et al., 2011; Mulrooney et a;, 2011; Bunbury et al., 2022). They found a land where large flightless birds (including the now-extinct moa) abounded, and even the driest parts were covered in forest. Neither lasted long. The… Continue reading Moa ate kōwhai

Flax/Harakeke – New Zealand’s Resource Curse

New Zealand flax - red flowers in the foreground, and the fibrous leaves behind. Image: Mike Pole.

The Musket Wars? Shortly after Europeans began operating in Aotearoa-New Zealand (c. 1807-1837), a series of conflicts among the indigenous Maori dramatically escalated. I had a vague knowledge that the fighting had a devastating impact, but only when I read Chris Trotter’s (2007) ‘No Left Turn’, did the scale sink in. Of that fighting, he… Continue reading Flax/Harakeke – New Zealand’s Resource Curse