Growing native fore
area has been placed under QEII Trust covenants since 2015. Now the battle is how to introduce natives into new areas. The main problem is getting rid of the exotic conifers and other vegetation.
Beech establishes itself on mostly medium to high rainfall areas east of the Main Divide. However, as with all vegetation, it is site-specific and requires special conditions to get started from scratch. This includes protection through sub canopy plants, soil conditions and fungi that aid its growth (see article on page 21).
And this currently is being researched by the Otago University Botany division. The Reforestation from Seeds Project Ngā Kākano Whakahau has the support of Forestry New Zealand’s One Billion Trees Partnership
Fund of $825,000 over three years.
Major trials have started in the area in collaboration between the University, QEII Trust, Department of Conservation and Taege Engineering (a farm machinery design company).
Leading the project is the University’s Professor Janice Lord, with colleagues Dr Mathew Larcombe and Professor David Orlovich. They are attempting to find a quicker way of growing native forest directly from seed.
One experiment involves the introduction of a mycorrhizal fungi, a vital cog in germinating beech seed, now underway on plots. If this proves successful, where contour is suitable, seed could be sown mechanically
with tractor and seed drill with added fungi/nutrient mix. And the university researchers believe that with the current hold-up thanks to the COVID-19 downturn, it could open opportunities for forestry workers.
Alternative openings for forestry workers
The project has highlighted ways in which forestry workers could supplement their income, including collecting Manuka seeds. Some further training in seed cleaning and preparation would be needed according to Professor Lord, but forestry workers are already trained for working in the bush (see article on page 20).
Good quality manuka seed sells for $1200 a kilogram, and existing supply is limited. If native forest, including Manuka, could be re-established quicker as a result of this research, this approach could be introduced elsewhere in New Zealand.
Increased growing of Manuka could generate more lucrative honey and essential oil production, and help make more native seeds available commercially, says Professor Lord.
Otago University researchers believe that when scaled up, these restoration approaches could help regional development, including ecotourism and contracting services.
It is clear that the reforestation project and carbon sequestration were what attracted the One Billion Trees Partnership Fund. Exactly how much of this area can be restored to natives is open to question.
Ex high country station owners Brian Dagg, who has established his own trial on Coronet Peak, and Russell Hamilton, supervisor of Soho Properties, are enthusiastic that the project will succeed.
Brian Dagg reckons the most suitable areas would be the wetter south facing slopes, valleys and gullies where some stands of Beech already exist.
Having frequently mustered these hills, Brian says stock tends not to damage Beech trees, but it is a different matter with deer and goats. These have largely been eliminated but would require continued surveillance.
His own Manuka and Kanuka stands suit the drier slopes, but act as a support plant for beech on the edges of existing stands.
Russell Hamilton, in his seventies, and one-time owner of Routeburn Station, says he is a great admirer of Red Beech for its prolific growth ability and products where it can be sustainably used.
The station’s boundary adjoined the Sylvan Lake Red Beech forest which had been select-stem logged back in the 1920s and ’30s. The timber, a recognised hardwood, was used to build bridges at the time. Regeneration has since formed a full canopy.
He welcomes the QEII project and feels it should succeed in the long term to cover at least 17,000ha of the trust area. “Mountain Beech can grow in some of the most difficult sites – even off bluffs,” he says. Something this writer can vouch for having photographed Beech on unassailable sites.
Writer’s note: Having spent many years working in the high country, deer and goat shooting in the Harris and Richardson mountains, working on the Wakatipu Rabbit Board, and prospecting for gold up in the Arrow, it would be heartening to see regeneration of natives. The more recent problem was trying to bush bash through thorny sweet briar, rose hip, lawyer bush, broom, gorse and wilding conifers that have sprung up over this millennium.
NZL