The power of the trees

Whirinaki is best known for its awe-inspiring trees. The greatest of these are known as podocarps and include rimu, tōtara, kahikatea, mataī and miro.

These forest giants have always been valued but in quite different ways now compared to the past. Visitors who marvel at their great height and size are often surprised to learn that logging of this forest ceased as recently as the mid-1980s.

Conservation groups actively campaigned to stop the native harvest and came into direct conflict with the local community who saw this as a threat to their lifestyle and employment.

In 1985 a new government ended the logging of native trees and by 1987 all logging of native timber had stopped at Whirinaki.

Plants and animals

The vegetation of Whirinaki changes from lowland podocarp forest in the basins through to beech forest in higher altitude areas. The plant life reflects the landform, altitude and soils along with past disturbance by volcanic activity and burning by humans. The park’s most striking characteristic is its wonderful podocarp forest. 

Birdlife is diverse and abundant. The forest supports high numbers of rare birds such as North Island brown kiwi, red and yellow-crowned kākāriki, and North Island kākā. Other notable birds include whio (blue duck) and the endangered kārearea (New Zealand falcon).

New Zealand’s only native land mammals, long-tailed and short-tailed bats (pekapeka), are present but rarely seen. Alert visitors may catch sight of a long-tailed bat around the forest edges in the evening.

Many introduced mammals have also made Whirinaki home. These include red deer, pigs and possums which have played a major part in modifying the forest. Deer and possums were liberated in the late 1890s and their populations rose to a peak around the late 1950s. Rats, mice, cats and stoats are also present.

The lie of the land

Whirinaki is located between the central volcanic plateau and mountain axis of the North Island. To the west is the Kaingaroa plateau, while to the east and south are the Huiarau and Ikawhenua ranges, bounded by the Whaeo and Te Whaiti faults.

The park contains elements of volcanic and non-volcanic landforms and soils, and the plant and animal life reflects these differences.

The land is still and peaceful now but this belies the violent origins of the Kaingaroa Plateau and Whirinaki basin. About 1800 years ago the Taupo eruption ejected a great wave of pumice, destroying all in its path and creating a new landscape. A lot of material also fell from the air, cloaking the greywacke ridges to the east.

The northern part of the forest, west of the Whirinaki River, is relatively low country which rises from 360 m to 730 m. There are beautiful river flats and rolling, tree-covered hills and gullies. These are a marked contrast to the steep rugged greywacke country in the south which rises to 1365 m at Maungataniwha.

Whio

The story of Whirinaki whio is as old as the trees which the Whirinaki Forest is famous for. Read about whio in Whirinaki te Pua a Tāne Conservation Park.

Māori have lived here probably as long as the oldest trees still standing. The original inhabitants of the Whirinaki valley were believed to have been Te Marangaranga. They were conquered by Wharepakau and his nephew Tangiharuru, descendants of Toi the great Māori chief.

Through this conquest Wharepakau and Tangiharuru, with their people, occupied the lands in the Whirinaki and Rangitaiki valleys and their descendants have lived in the district ever since. Ngāti Whare are descendents of Wharepakau and regard themselves as the guardians of Whirinaki Te Pua-a-Tāne Conservation Park.

Māori association with the forest is also spiritual. Whirinaki protects and preserves the people and legends of the past, is traditionally known as a pātaka kai (source of food), and provides herbs and building materials for cultural purposes. These include tōtara for meeting houses and other carving work.

Ngāti Whare

The history of Māori iwi Ngāti Whare is written on the hills, valleys, and trees of the Whirinaki.

Ko au ko te Whirinaki, ko te Whirinaki ko au. I am the Whirinaki, and the Whirinaki is me. 

Te Whaiti pou
Image: Neil Hutton ©

Relationship with the forest

From the time their ancestor Wharepakau Tao-Tao-Ki-Te-Kapua (from whom Ngāti Whare take their name) migrated south to the Whirinaki area, Ngāti -Whare have lived in close relationship with the Whirinaki Forest.

As forest dwellers, the people of Ngāti Whare were dependent on the rich food resources of the forest. Fern root was a staple food product and was cultivated in clearings created in the forest and maintained by fire and shifting cultivations. Many other forest plants were used for rongoā (medicine).

Birds were plentiful and held in high esteem. The taking of birds was strictly controlled and rāhui (prohibition) would occasionally be put on sections of forest to allow bird populations to recover.

The forest also provided many other necessities: wood for shelters, waka, weapons, fortifications, and carvings; bark for household vessels and roofing; vines for lashing and hīnaki (eel pots); and feathers for clothing.

Ngāti Whare and Whirinaki today

Today, Ngāti Whare's kaitiakitanga (guardianship) of the forest is officially recognised and they co-govern the park with DOC.

Ngāti Whare has established a native nursery in the Minginui village and has long-term plans to restore hundreds of hectares of land neighbouring the Whirinaki back into native forests. Minginui, once home to sawmills that processed thousands of native logs, is now home to a nursery that will restore the native forests lost to logging.