Jami's Project - Day 13

This is my daily entry in Jami's Project whereby she wants to create a collection of journal entries from people of different ages, from different countries and different parts of this country, during this 30 day Coronavirus period. She wants to highlight how "in this together" we all are, regardless of government policies, and the influence it will have on our wellbeing and to evaluate what individuals do to cope.  She has participants from Alaska, Canary Island, France, Canada and Norway.

Another gloomy, overcast day.  We hear there has been rain over on the east coast.  I sure as hell wish it would come this way.  

I think my main frustration with being in isolation is not being able to go for a drive to see how the surrounding areas are looking.  When it's really dry here I usually take a drive over to the west coast where, because of their sandy soil, they dry out a lot more than we do here.  I can then give thanks and appreciate that we are lucky to live where we do beside the mountains that attract the rain (most of the time).  I miss taking a drive to a beach somewhere.  Just because I love the ocean, no other reason.  Will I appreciate even more being able to do that when all this is over?  How quickly will we all just slip back into how we were, taking things for granted?  If I promise myself now that I won't allow that to happen, will I remember in a month or so?

I confess that I did take a drive just over a km down the road then into the forest to check that everything was in order at the lodge, everything securely locked, all electrical appliances like the refrigerator and chiller were turned off, no leaking taps, etc.  I think this is allowed under our Essential Services guidelines but I did feel so guilty and was extra careful thinking how awful it would be if something bad happened and I was the one busted needing the assistance of the emergency services.    A small tree had fallen across part of the access road and I was so conscious of not getting into any strife that I didn't attempt to remove it, just crept the car past it being extra careful not to let the car get too far off the road where I might get into difficulty.  

I maintain the boot cleaning station at the entrance to the Tangihua Forest where visitors disinfect their footwear to protect against Kauri Dieback.  We are the only forest in NZ to not have Kauri dieback and we want it to stay that way because it destroys Kauri trees of all sizes and ages - and the ecology that relies on them.  Hunting and tramping (bushwalking or hiking) is on the Covid No-No list so the boot cleaning station should not have any use right now but, really, I don't think it's worth the risk to our beautiful kauri trees to stop the maintenance on the boot cleaning station.  I'm not becoming a rebel.  Honestly.

The Daily Count
1106 total cases, 17 in Northland
67 new cases
13 in hospital
176 recovered
1 death

The road in

As I go to and from the lodge in the Tangihua Forest I am constantly stopping to take photos.  The more frequently I do it, the more differences I notice.  The bush always looks different, depending on the light, the weather, the time of year and day, the amount of sunshine overhead.  I took these today, some while going in to the bush, the rest on my way home a couple of hours later.

 

 

There is a lookout not far from the lodge where you can get idea of how deep in the bush the lodge is situated.  That's the lodge roof in the centre of the photo.  I've got a blur on the lens of my camera which I can't see or clean off.  I can't decided what to do about it!  Suggestions welcome.

I've given names to a few different spots along the road.  I call this tree The Lovers although to be honest before I settled for that I was searching my brain for a nice word to describe the way children (and not only children) cross their legs when they are putting off going to the toilet.

This is the view of surrounding farmland in one direction as you come out of the forest.

And yes, I do know how lucky I am to see such beauty and to feel the tranquility of the bush on a regular basis.  I just wish I could capture it with my camera.

Rata

There was light rain earlier this morning, raindrops were still hanging from the trees as I went up to the Lodge this morning.  It wasn't early but the light was early morning-ish, soft and sitting delicately on the ferns and trees.

I stopped and just breathed in the peacefulness.  The light filtering through the trees seemed gentle.  And I gave thanks that I get to come to this lovely place so often.  Even when my mission for the day is to scrub out the toilet facilities.

I drove past a flash of red and had to back up to see what it was.  Was it there yesterday?  By the number of flowers on the little rata tree it must have been.  But I wonder why it is so late in flowering? I'd expect to see them in summer, November to January.  I'm pretty sure it is a rata.  I'll try to get a closer shot of a flower tomorrow. 

 I take it for granted, was probably away with the fairies as I've driven past this tree in the past couple of weeks.  The Tangihua Forest really is a beautiful place!

As possum populations have built up in forest areas, there has been a corresponding loss of rata.  Possums eat a wide range of plants, but show strong preferences for some species like the rata and rata trees cannot tolerate browsing. A mature tree can be killed in three years with intensive browsing and even young trees, although they can survive for longer, will eventually die if browsed regularly. 

I know my Australian family find it hard to believe how much damage our native possums can do to a New Zealand forest.  They are a pest here.  I used to find it hard to have ill feeling towards them especially when I remember my grandmother and her successive generations of pet possums.  

But the damage they do to our beautiful forests really gets at me and I support whole-heartedly the pest eradication and forest conservation programme that the Lions Lodge Trust for whom I work are getting up and running.  They have worked very hard to raise the money needed to support their efforts.  They aim to have about 2,000 ha under management in the next 2 years.

Some trappers are moving in next week to kick off the programme.   Before the eradication of possums and rats can start, they need to lay out 400 ha of bait stations.  As always there's a lot of groundwork to be done first like setting up grid systems laying out tracks and markers.

They now have $100,000 worth of funding, the support of the Department of Conservation, the World Wildlife Fund and the Regional Council.  Now they need help from those who are prepared to put the time in to make this a successful project.  I aim to do what I can.

This forest is beautiful and the only forest left that has no Kauri Dieback and we are very proud of that.  But it is way too silent.  There is very little birdsong.  We must do something to get rid of the introduced pests.  And we must do it now before any more damage is done and it really is too late.  

Sorry, I went off on a bit of a tangent there.  Knew it would happen sooner or later. It's been a while since I felt so passionately about anything.