Kauri Trees

We're heading into Kauri territory. 

"Kauri are among the world's mightiest trees, growing to more than 50 metres tall, with trunk girths of up to 16 metres and living for more than 2000 years. Kauri forests once covered 1.2 million hectares of the Northland." - NZ Dept of Conservation.

The native Maori used the mighty Kauri trees for boats, houses and carving, but it wasn't until Europeans arrived that the trees were in serious trouble.

"The arrival of European settlers in the 17-1800's saw the decimation of these magnificent forests. Sailors quickly realised the trunks of young kauri were ideal for ships' masts and spars, and the settlers who followed felled the mature trees to yielded huge quantities of sawn timber of unsurpassed quality for building." - NZ Dept of Conservation.

That, plus the increasing demand for pasture for sheep and cattle, have caused the destruction of much of the native forest here in NZ.  Even today we see signs of clear cutting everywhere.

Although the use of native trees like Kauri is now restricted, farmers are still clearing land in huge quantites to make room for these wooly creatures:

There are just over 4 million people in New Zealand, and over 40 million sheep!