Waipoua Forest facts for kids

Location of Waipoua Forest

Tāne Mahuta, also known as the Lord of the Forest, is the biggest living kauri tree in New Zealand.

The Waipoua Forest is a special forest located on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island, in the Northland Region. It is famous for having some of the best remaining examples of ancient kauri forests in New Zealand. This forest is home to two of the largest living kauri trees, named Tāne Mahuta and Te Matua Ngahere.

The Waipoua Forest was made a protected sanctuary in 1952. A group of volunteers called the Waipoua Forest Trust helps to look after it. Next to the sanctuary is the Professor W.R McGregor Reserve, which is about 350 hectares (860 acres) big. In the 1940s, a man named W. R. McGregor and others worked hard to stop logging in the forest. They wanted it to be a sanctuary, which it became in 1952.

Today, many people visit the forest. About 200,000 visitors come to see Tāne Mahuta each year. This popularity has raised concerns about the forest's health and the spread of kauri dieback disease. There are also easy walking paths to Te Matua Ngahere and a group of trees called the Four Sisters. A longer path leads to the Yakas kauri, which is the seventh-largest kauri tree.

What Animals and Plants Live in Waipoua Forest?

The Waipoua, Warawara, and Puketi forests hold about three-quarters of New Zealand's remaining mature kauri trees. Waipoua Forest has the biggest group of these ancient trees left. It is home to Te Matua Ngahere, a famous kauri tree that is the largest in New Zealand by its width. It is the second largest by its total wood volume. Experts believe this tree is between 2,000 and 3,000 years old.

These amazing trees are in danger from a fungus called Phytophthora taxon Agathis. The Waipoua Forest Trust has asked the government for urgent help to find a cure for this problem. The forest also has the largest group of North Island brown kiwi in the Northland area. You can also find populations of the rare North Island kōkako bird in the higher parts of the forest.

Forest Fire in Waipoua

A forest fire threatened Waipoua Forest on February 1, 2007. It started when someone was cooking on a beach nearby. The fire burned a pine tree farm next to the native forest. It also destroyed important wetland plants. The fire came within 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) of the famous Tāne Mahuta tree.

Local firefighters and conservation volunteers fought the blaze. They used helicopters and created fire breaks to stop it from spreading. Millions of dollars worth of pine trees were lost. Many endangered birds also died, including about 20 North Island brown kiwi. In total, the fire burned over 2 square kilometres (0.77 sq mi) of plants.

How Waipoua Forest Was Protected

The jungle inside Waipoua Forest.

The Waipoua Forest was bought from Māori leaders Tiopira Kinaka and Parore Te Awha in 1876. It was part of the Waipoua Block No.1 and cost a little over £2,000. At that time, the forest covered about 80 square kilometres (31 sq mi).

In 1885, the Waipoua Forest became a State Forest Reserve. This meant it was protected by the government. One reason the forest was not destroyed earlier was its remote location. It was also very hard to remove the timber from it. Another reason was that it received a lot of rain. This meant that fires started by Māori and European settlers did not burn it down, unlike other forests in the 1870s and 1880s.

By 1907, Waipoua Forest, Warawara Forest, and a few other small areas were the only untouched kauri forests left that belonged to the state. In 1913, a special group recommended that a specific area of Waipoua Forest, about 0.8 square kilometres (0.31 sq mi), and all of the Warawara Forest, about 50 square kilometres (19 sq mi), should become national kauri forests for all New Zealanders. In 1926, a road was built through Waipoua Forest. This road helped people living nearby to access their lands.

The Fight to Save the Forest

In the 1940s, people found out that the State Forest Service was cutting down kauri trees in Waipoua. In 1947, several groups, including the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society, started a big campaign. They collected over 43,000 signatures on a petition. This petition asked for Waipoua State Forest to become a national park. It also asked for all logging to stop.

The petition, which had thirteen large books of signatures, was brought to parliament in a wheelbarrow on September 25, 1947. People hoped that 160 square kilometres (62 sq mi) of Waipoua would be protected forever. More petitions followed. Finally, on July 2, 1952, an area of over 80 square kilometres (31 sq mi) was officially made a forest sanctuary. The zoologist William Roy McGregor was a key person in this effort. He wrote a detailed pamphlet that helped convince many people to support conservation.

In the late 1960s, the government started cutting down trees in the Warawara forest. This went against the earlier recommendations. This logging was only stopped in 1972 after a large public outcry. In that short time, about one-fifth of the forest was cut down.

What's the Weather Like in Waipoua Forest?

Who Helps Protect Waipoua Forest?

Girth of Te Matua Ngahere compared with a person for scale

The Waipoua Forest Trust is a group that works to protect the environment. It was started in 1999 to help save the kauri forests in the Waipoua area. The Trust is a team effort between the Native Forests Restoration Trust and Te Roroa. Te Roroa are the Māori people who are the traditional guardians of Waipoua. Together, these groups help guide the Department of Conservation in managing the forest.

Protecting the Land

In March 2000, the New Zealand Minister of Internal Affairs, Mark Burton, helped launch the Millennium Kauri Forest. This new area is to the south of the Waipoua Forest. The Trust received a $1.4 million grant and a gift of land title. Most of this money was used to buy more land to protect the southern edges of the forest.

The Trust works with the Native Forests Restoration Trust, which manages the Professor McGregor Reserve. It has also bought farmland to the north of the McGregor Reserve. This helps protect the southern boundary of the Waipoua area. The Trust also looks after about 16 hectares of the Marlborough Road forest. This is thanks to a special agreement with the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust.

What the Trust Does

The Waipoua Forest Trust works hard to save the last of the ancient kauri trees. They also help the wildlife in the park to recover. The Trust is actively involved in planting new trees and turning old logging areas back into forest. They are also working on creating a kiwi hatchery to help these birds.

The Trust has raised awareness about their work through a photo display at the Kauri Museum in Matakohe. In 2007, the ASB Community Trust gave the Waipoua Forest Trust $810,000 to support their efforts.

Volunteers help the Trust by removing weeds from planted areas. They also maintain the ground, collect flax seeds, and monitor and get rid of pests like rats and possums. By June 2007, the Trust had spent over NZ $4 million on protecting and restoring the land. The Kaipara District council has also supported the Trust. They helped the Trust apply for funding to replant areas with native plants. In November 2007, the Trust spoke out against a decision to cut down a 600-year-old kauri tree for a road widening project.

In April 2009, Alex Nathan, who leads both Te Roroa Whatu Ora and the Waipoua Forest Trust, met with a leader from the Yakushima community in Japan. Yakushima also cares about protecting ancient giant trees. The two leaders started the "Family of Ancient Trees" project. This project aims to raise awareness and encourage eco-tourism. This agreement came after several visits and talks between the Trust and Japanese groups. In May 2009, the Trust helped sponsor the Waipoua Forest run, where many Japanese visitors took part.

See also

In Spanish: Bosque de Waipoua para niños

• List of Kauri Parks in New Zealand