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23. Allocation of Duties. —Timber-control duties expanded very considerably with the continuation of the war and absorbed the full working-time of many senior officers. 24. Field and Office Inspections.—Staff shortage placed added responsibilities 011 inspecting officers, with the result that fewer inspections were possible than formerly. 25. Regional Organization..—A continuing policy of decentralization of timber control was followed, and a study commenced of regional reorganization iu order to meet the requirements of post-war and rehabilitation developments. 26. Inter-departmental Co-operation.—Acknowledgment is made of the co-operation received from other Departments during a very difficult and exacting year. CHAPTER lII.—CONSTITUTION OF STATE FORESTS 27. Changes in Area. —During the year 188,243 acres were set apart as permanent and provisional State forest and 37,617 acres were withdrawn from reservation, a net increase of 150,626 acres. The area under State forest reservation now totals 8,952,794 acres, equivalent to 135 per cent, of the land area of the Dominion (see Appendix I). Of this total, 5,873,262 acres are permanently reserved, being 65 6 per cent, of the total State forest area. 28. Changes in Status.—Of the area withdrawn from reservation, 21,900 acres were included in the Abel Tasman National Park, 7,820 acres were taken for defence purposes, the remainder being for settlement purposes. Nine hundred and seventy acres of provisional State forest were permanently reserved. CHAPTER IV.—FOREST MANAGEMENT 29. Surveys.—Topographical surveys covering 1,583 acres and compartment subdivision surveys covering 650 acres were carried out 011 exotic forests. Timber-appraisal surveys covered 130 acres totalling .14,577 acres, and forest reconnaissance 7 areas covering 15,706 acres, while roads totalling 11 miles were also surveyed. 30. Map-ping.—Additions to the permanent forest atlas included 2 topographical maps (Puketi State Forest), 4 stock maps, 8 operational maps, and 4 privilege maps. Three stock maps were renewed and additions made to 54 stock and operational maps; while 16 copies of these maps were prepared for general use. 31. Forest-management Staff. —Late in the year two trained assistant foresters returned to duty, one from the Army and the other from protracted sick-leave. Frequent calls have necessarily been made on some of the trained management staff in connection with timbercontrol activities, and while steady progress has been made with technical forest-manage-ment projects, the latter have again suffered by reason of staffing shortages. 32. Forest Working Flans. —The war provisions of the kauri working plan, the first departmental working plan to be formally approved in accordance with the Forests Act, 1921-22, were operated for the supply of timber for various categories of naval vessels. Assessment of growing stock of Waiotapu and Conical Hill exotic forests has progressed to within sight of completion. These assessments as the basis of workingplans management are qualitative as well as quantitative, and have brought to light in the older exotic forests numerous interesting silvicultural features not disclosed by the recorded histories, such as unusual species mixtures, almost complete disappearance of one species in a mixture, results of various planting espacements, inaccurately recorded species, and so 011. One outstanding instance is the newly discovered existence of many flourishing Corsican pines in stands previously recorded as Austrian pine, which in comparison is a low-value species. The assessment strip plots on which volume measurements are made are being permanently pegged and recorded, so that a five-yearly investigation of stand development and increment becomes a simple matter. Assessment of Golden Downs exotic forest was commenced. In this and similar younger exotic forests, assessment is being confined meanwhile to stands of the fast-growing Pinus rcidiata. This species will probably be managed under a working circle quite distinct from that for the slower-growing species, which will not be ready for cutting until some years later. CHAPTER V.—SILVICULTURE 33. General. —Silvicultural operations are now restricted to what can be done by the bare maintenance personnel that is necessary for fire protection. Extension of planted forest area dropped to 1,540 acres, the smallest annual area for over twenty years past. Only 1 per cent, of the total area received improvement treatment, but the most, urgent operations were accorded priority, and, of these, medium to heavy thinning was increased by 30 per cent. Statistics of establishment and silviculture are presented in Appendix 11. 34. Natural Regeneration— In Omahuta Kauri Forest high mortality in recently germinated kauri seedlings has resulted from the dry, hot summer and autumn, particularly amongst seedlings precariously established in heavy litter. Nevertheless the remaining stocking appears adequate for re-establishment. The acquirement of a large area of forest on Great Barrier Island comprising hundreds of acres of kauri sapling and pole forest was finalized. Progress was made towards the acquirement of an even more attractive block of privately owned young kauri forest 011 the mainland. Podocarp regeneration on Whirinaki. Forest made satisfactory progress and was assisted by the planting of 7,000 indigenous seedlings, chiefly kahikatea. No special beech-regeneration measures were practicable during the year. Natural regeneration of Pinus radiata in Whakarewarewa Forest compartments clearfelled in 1940-42 is very promising. The bark-beetle (Hylastes after) and honey-fungus (Armillaria mellea) have caused a certain number of deaths, but the beetle damage now appears to be abating (see clauses 41 and 49 below). A considerable number of internal firebreaks of the State exotic forests are becoming heavily covered by natural regeneration, necessitating the opening-up of access rides for the maintenance of efficient fire-prevention communications.

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