"Native Forest and the Rise of Preservation in New Zealand (1903–1913)"
This paper analyses the turning-point in attitudes to the most distinctive feature of one nation’s indigenous environment.
This paper analyses the turning-point in attitudes to the most distinctive feature of one nation’s indigenous environment.
While many saw the landscape transformation which followed the European settlement of New Zealand as firmly within the prevailing ‘doctrine of progress,’ this transformation was viewed with misgivings by others, who observed how deforestation led to erosion and floods, and advocated more prudent forest management.
The author examines the role of plantation forestry through the shift within the New Zealand State Forest Service from an orthodox state forestry model to one favoring large-scale exotic plantations.
The author examines the advent of native forest conservation in New Zealand’s Colony and the role of Thomas Potts in advocating exotic tree-planting as a response to timber shortage.