A Clean Bill of Health? A forest doctor’s walk through the Kamai Mamaku Ranges
Fri, 30 Jan 2009 11:01 am – Posted by Alan Fleming | 3 Comments
Browsed, milled, cleared & mined over the years - it’s not hard to see why one of our largest tracts of forest – the Bay of Plenty’s Kamai Mamaku forest - has been a key focus for several of our North island branches. So as the newly appointed central North Island field officer, my arm almost left its shoulder socket when asked to take a walk through parts of this 37,000 hectare forest land.
This stretch of forest contains a unique mix of plant-life that encompasses warm kauri in the North and cool beech to its South. Its long, narrow shape and plant diversity is a very microcosm of Aotearoa. Over the week we would take in three very different forests - the northern Waitawheta forest, Aongatete in the middle and Otanewainuku to the south. A snapshot of the forest’s health in one week! Donning some binoculars & channelling the spirit of a forest doctor, I set about on the walk.