Native Forest Regeneration Process 2

Just by way of illustration of my previous post, here is a photo of an Australian Kauri (Agathis robusta) - one of three I planted below the kanuka canopy in my gully paddock last summer. They were above my head when I put them in and they're racing away now:


You can see below it the shiny, bright green leaves of a very common native shrub called hangehange (Geniostoma ligustrifolium), also taking advantage of the shady conditions to get itself established.

Where there are breaks in the overhead canopy, a few gorse bushes still persist, but they certainly don't look very healthy. Here's another photo of one of our native maidenhair ferns (Adiantum cunninghamii) self-sown and flourishing beautifully at the foot of a kanuka tree:


Patricia

Native Forest Regeneration Process

Most people hate gorse, and having dealt with it on this property for over 40 years since my parents bought the place, so do I. Amazing how this plant, imported to form neat hedges in the early days of colonization, went rampant and took over the countryside. Or maybe forseeable, if only people had thought of the very different climatic conditions here, when they brought the plant in.

Gorse is pretty indestructible, because of the viability of its seed. On the good side, it has a very deep root system and being of the lupin family, it does have nutriment to add to the soil in the form of nitrogen and other goodies no doubt. On the bad side, you can slash it to the ground and it will cheerfully grow again.

It does have the advantage in that it makes a great nursery system for native plant seedlings growing underneath it. Its other advantage is that without direct sunlight, it dies out. So voila - we have a useful succession process, which of course is not instant (but then nature is NOT an instant fix).

Most often, the first seedlings to sprout under the gorse are kanuka (Leptospermum ericoides) and manuka (Leptospermum scoparium) - often referred to as "scrub" by those who unfortunately know no better.


Kanuka especially grows to a good height and in time overtops the gorse, which dies out, leaving a great shady coppice for the regeneration of larger native trees.

It's a great system, and all it requires is a little patience. Just think - you can even be rearing up some seedlings of other native trees ready to plant under there, once the gorse starts thinning out.

Patricia
Photos: Some of my regenerating forest.

Forest Giant

The forest on the steep land above my house is, I think, pretty much untouched. It's mostly tarairi (Beilschmiedia tarairi), kohekohe (Dysoxylum spectabile) and nikau (Rhopalostylis sapida) with totara (Podocarpus totara) mixed in and the odd rewarewa (Knightia excelsa) here and there. It was a burial place for many years, having at least one deep sinkhole in the limestone rock beneath the volcanic peak, though the tapu has since been removed.


I've been involved with this place since my parents first bought it in 1970, and it's been a huge inspiration over the years, even more so now that I am living here full time.

My dream is to put my 10 acres back into forest - just think how much more life can be supported by 10 acres of forest than can live on 10 acres of steep, struggling pasture. Right now, the gorse is flourishing, but in the gully paddock directly above my house, 30' kanuka (Leptospermum ericoides) has taken over, the gorse is gone, there's a wonderful understorey of mamaku and native seedlings coming up, and it's a beautiful place to wander in.

Birdlife is more abundant already. Ride on, Tane!