NEW ZEALAND—EGBERT H. WALKER S20 
The kauri forest is the best known of the rain-forest associations, 
this being due to the noble as well as the highly commercial attributes 
of its prominent component, the kauri tree itself. (See pl. 2, fig. 1.) 
Originally almost all of North Island north of the 38th parallel, which 
crosses the island about the base of the Bay of Plenty, was a vast 
kauri forest. The title of a recent booklet, “The Waipoua Forest: 
the Last Virgin Kauri Forest of New Zealand” (21), shows its present 
state. The Waipoua State Forest or the Waipoua Forest Reserve in 
North Auckland contains about 40,000 acres, of which about 27,600 
acres is actually forested. Perhaps the Trounson Kauri Park with 
only about 975 acres is too small to consider, but nevertheless it con- 
tains a primeval kauri stand of limited extent, donated by its lumber- 
man namesake to the State for a preserve. Because of its small size 
and the natural degeneration from its exposed margin, its longevity 
as a primeval forest may be limited. The kauri forest formation is 
composed of many other tree species besides Agathis australis, as well 
as characteristic shrubs and ferns, including huge tree ferns, and a few 
herbaceous plants. Among the many climbers is the kie-kie or climb- 
ing pandanus (Freycinetia banksit) (pl. 2, fig. 2), the only New Zealand 
member of this tropical family, Pandanaceae. This forest varies 
according to the presence or absence of the actually dominant trees, 
especially of Beilschmeidia taraire in the northern and B. tawa in the 
southern part of its range. Various studies have been made of this 
forest from different points of view, but probably Cockayne’s (5) and 
McGregor’s (21) are of greatest interest to the botanist. 
Impermanence seems to be woven into the fabric as well as the 
history of the kauri forest. Cockayne (6) has stated that the kauri 
is always in a state of progression or retrogression. Seedling kauris 
cannot normally reach maturity within the kauri forest itself, but 
must grow up where there is more light, for this forest is predomi- 
nantly dark, gloomy, dense, and almost impenetrable. Seedlings 
grow well, however, in the shade of the manuka or in accidental 
clearings and along roadsides cut through the forest. By some it is 
thought that the kauri forest will in time cease to exist unless man 
takes a hand to perpetuate it. But the Maori people first came only 
800 years ago and the white man less than 150, and there were kauri 
forests many centuries earlier. There is in New Zealand now a lively 
controversy over the preservation of the Waipoua State Forest. 
Shall it remain as it now stands, or be reduced in size? Shall it be 
left wholly untouched, or is it to be altered within by forest manage- 
ment? Shall it furnish timber to commercial exploiters or forest 
managers, or be a recreation ground and memorial of the past to the 
6 Actually the kauri tree is not dominant, as it grows singly or in clusters. Kauri forests are so named 
because of the prominence and commercial value of the kauri, The broad-leaved dicotylous species are 
actually dominant. 
866591—50——22 
