Clint Deckard wants more to be done to save the kahikatea trees in Inglis Bush Scenic Reserve in Central Hawke's Bay. Photo / Paul Taylor
Clint Deckard wants more to be done to save the kahikatea trees in Inglis Bush Scenic Reserve in Central Hawke's Bay. Photo / Paul Taylor
Giants of the forest, reduced to splinters.
Kahikatea have spent centuries pushing their crowns through the canopy of the Inglis Bush Scenic Reserve in Central Hawke's Bay.
But 20 per cent of them have now died, many in the 2020 drought, and a man who cares for their futurefears a mass extinction could be just two or three summers away.
The public, but not easily accessible, reserve sits 8km from Ongaonga on the banks of the Tukituki River.
To get to the kahikatea requires clambering over fences, and a good dose of bush-whacking.
Local resident and Inglis Bush Community Trust chairman Clint Deckard does this regularly. But he's noticed a change in the bush recently, starting at the top.
He says the kahikatea are being killed off by the failure of the springs during droughts that once provided constant sources of water allowing them to thrive.
Hawke's Bay Regional Council is not so sure. The council's science manager, Dr Jeff Smith, says the reason for the death of the trees remains mostly unknown.
Deckard estimates the kahikatea in the bush are two to three droughts away from extinction – and reserve has already lost 20 per cent of the shallow-rooted tree in the past 25 years.
"For hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years the springs created the conditions that kahikatea like; wet feet. The relatively sudden removal of this water has caused the trees stress, and finally death."
Deckard said the trees, which after 25 years can reach 10m tall, had developed in the Ashley Clinton reserve with constant water supply, which no longer exists.
The suffering of the kahikatea has been known for about 40 years, but little has been done, he said. The decaying remnants of fallen trees now act as a visible reminder of inaction, he said.
Inglis Bush Community Trust chairman Clint Deckard. Photo / Paul Taylor
"These trees should have continued to dominate the forest for hundreds of years more - except they finally succumbed during the last drought. It died of thirst," Deckard said.
"In 40 years, that water has gone. But when I look at the number of trees to have died in last year's drought – banksia, Tasmanian blackwood, totara – I'd never seen anything like that before.
"We've had worse droughts, but last year was day after day of 30 to 35 degrees Celsius, which put the trees under enormous stress."
Smith said although HBRC is aware of the issue, drought is not the only factor at play.
"It's disappointing to hear that some kahikatea aren't thriving in the area. But we don't have data to identify whether the tree health is a consequence of the drought and groundwater abstraction, but it is certainly possible."
Smith said HBRC continues to work across the entire region to support native biodiversity, including at Inglis Bush Scenic Reserve.
"Our Regional Water Security programme is working on solutions for water issues in the region, and this issue will feed into our research," he added.
Deckard said while heartening to see HBRC, local iwi and the Department of Conservation turning their attention to the plight of the reserve, the damage is irreversible.
"Unfortunately, any solution will be like dialysis, which keeps you alive but doesn't cure the cause of the illness."
Deckard said the "twisted irony" was that for many years, farmers had been working in Hawke's Bay to get rid of water from land.
"Farming systems had wet areas drained, damp paddocks crisscrossed with tile drains, rivers and streams straightened and channelled," Deckard said.
"Every square inch had to be 'productive'. I'm sure it wasn't realised that those boggy areas were effectively the pores of the aquifer."
While too late for many of the kahikatea in the reserve, Deckard hoped immediate action would be able to save others.
