What is Waipoua Forest?

Waipoua is also a spider genus found in New Zealand (family Orsolobidae).

Waipoua Forest preserves some of the best examples of kauri forest remaining in New Zealand. It is notable for having two of the largest living kauri trees, Tane Mahuta and Te Matua Ngahere.

It is located in the Northland Region and is associated with the neighbouring Waima and Mataraua Forests. The sanctuary was created in 1952. It has the largest population of North Island brown kiwi in Northland. Populations of the endangered North Island kokako can be found in the high plateau country.

The forest contains three quarters of New Zealand's remaining kauri trees and covers 25 km².

Waipoua Forest is also the official designation of a locality in the same area as the forest.

History

The Waipoua Forest was bought from the Maoris in 1876 for a little over 2 thousand pounds. At the time it covered approximately 80 km².

In 1885 the Waipoua Forest came under the provision of the State Forests Act, and an area of 90 km² was constituted a State Forest Reserve. One of the reasons for its escape from destruction in earlier days was its remoteness combined with the difficulty of extracting its timber.

In 1907 the Waipoua Forest and one or two other smaller reserves were the only virgin kauri forests left belonging to the state.

In 1913 a Royal Commission on Forestry recommended that a specially selected area of 0.8 km² of the Waipoua forest, and the whole of the Warawara Forest of 50 km², be established as national kauri forests for the people of New Zealand.

In 1926 a road was put through Waipoua Forest with the purpose of providing an approach to the lands of neighboring settlers.

In the 1940s it became known that the State Forest Service was cutting kauri at Waipoua. In 1947 the Whangarei Progressive Society, in association with the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, the Waipoua Preservation Society, and other organizations secured 50,000 signatures to Parliament in a wheelbarrow. Its hope was that 160 km² at Waipoua should be set aside for all time, inviolate from interference by man. Other petitions followed, and on 2 July 1952 an area of over 80 km² was proclaimed a forest sanctuary.

2007 fire

A forest fire threatened Waipoua Forest in early 2007. The fire broke out on the 1st of February after someone had been cooking mussels on an open fire at a nearby beach. The fire burnt pine plantation adjoining the native forest, but destroyed ecologically significant wetland vegetation, and came within 3 km of the iconic Tāne Mahuta. The blaze was fought by local fire fighters and conservation volunteers, who managed to stop its spread using helicopters and fire breaks. Millions of dollars of pine and many endangered birds were lost, including as many as an estimated 20 North Island brown Kiwi. In all the fire claimed over 2 km² of vegetation.^[1][2]

See also

• Waipoua Forest Trust - conservation organisation.

References

• Reed, Alfred (1953). The Story of the Kauri. A.H. and A.W. Reed. 

External links

• Waipoua Forest: Kauri Coast places to visit Department of Conservation information page

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