So far, all I've told you about are the outdoor jaunts in my job, it isn't like that every day though. I spend about half my time in the office sitting behind a computer.

Currently, I'm concentrating on puzzling out the vegetation monitoring history in Mt Egmont National Park. Don't get confused here, Mt Taranaki (mentioned earlier) and Mt Egmont are one and the same. About 20 years ago the long Maori history of the mountain was acknowledged and the name Taranaki accepted as valid. Taranaki means "barren mountain". Captain James Cook bestowed the name Egmont, after the Second Earl of Egmont, a former first lord of the Admiralty, when he sighted the mountain in January 1770.

Mt Egmont National Park is the second oldest National Park in New Zealand. It was established in 1900 and is 33,543 ha in size. It is almost a perfect circle, encompassing one of the most symmetrical volcanic cones in the world, right down to the edge of the ring plain. The mountain itself is 2518 metres high and last erupted in 1755. It is eroding every year and especially this year since it already has had twice the average rainfall for the year. Average rainfall is 8 m per year. Eventually it will wear down to bare bed rock, like the Pouakai and Kaitake ranges have done, seen to the right of Taranaki in the shot below.

This soil composition picture gives you some idea of the relative positioning of the three volcanoes. Kaitake is the oldest, Pouakai next and Taranaki the youngest. The line of volcanoes is gradually moving South with Pouakai in between Kaitake and Taranaki. The DoC page tells us; "[Mt Egmont National Park] Established, with the support of the Taranaki community, in recognition of the significance of the mountain to the surrounding land. A compact park centered around the volcanic cone of Mount Taranaki/Egmont, with more than 320km of walks and tracks, allowing visitors to view sub-alpine forest, volcanic landforms, mountain streams and waterfalls, and alpine herbfields." Have a look at this map of New Zealand to see where the various parks are.

The mountain and park are surrounded by the fertile farmlands of Taranaki district, making the park look almost artificial, a vegetative pimple on rolling farmland. It was a Chinese man, Chew Chong who created the basis for a successful farming industry here. He built a butter factory, exported New Zealand butter to England and introduced shared milking which revolutionized the industry. Today, Taranaki district is the largest exporter of cheese in the world.

The largest town in the Taranaki region is New Plymouth, sharing the coast with its mammoth co-tenant Mount Egmont. New Plymouth has some of the most beautiful parks, lakes, ferneries, fountains and waterfalls ever seen which is why it is probably the most photographed city in the country.

Anyway, back to what I get up to. The park has had a long history of goat and possum control, and as part of that scientists and foresters wanted some idea of the impact that these animals were having on the vegetation in the park. They did this in various ways:

 Exclosure plots: Fence off small plots of vegetation, generally about 20 m by 20 m, to keep out goats (and sometimes the arboreal possum) and compare it to an adjacent unfenced piece of forest. The idea is to remeasure the plots every 5 years or so and thus pick up any changes in the forest due to possum or goat browse.

 Vegetation lines: Randomly position straight lines on a map of the park and then physically traverse these lines in the field using fixed compass bearings and landmarks to guide you. At certain intervals describe the vegetation, use by animals (such as possum and goat browse) and any other notable features, such as dying trees, lack of regeneration etc.

 Faecal pellet lines: Somewhat similar to the above, except that you also note how many goat and possum droppings you find on the ground.

 Photopoints: Taking shots of vegetation at intervals of one or more years. The photos are from fixed points looking in a particular direction so that hopefully you can see the changes over time.

I'm wading through boxes of data starting with four exclosure plots put on the mountain in 1968. Part of the problem is that some of the data has been lost over time (including one box that was accidentally burned by a conscientious cleaner) and that the vegetation and mountain have changed in the intervening years. This means that some of the plots are hard to find, and that we can't compare all the plots for all the years they were surveyed. I'm currently cataloging what data we do have.

This isn't actually as boring as it sounds because there are some real gems in the plot descriptions.

Permolat [sections of horizontal blind] is on a kamahi, Weimannia racemosa. Follow bearing of 320º for 60 m, direction goes over windfall and through supplejack, Ripogonum scandens. Whole area is infested with supplejack and the wetter parts are choked with kiekie, Freycineta banksii. - Supplejack is vine that can grow really thick and tangled (imagine Tarzan like stuff, only denser thickets). The fact that it is mentioned in the description means that you probably spend half an hour getting tangled up in the stuff and climbing over fallen trees to cover all of 60 metres. Then you end up in a boggy part with still more supplejack and another scrambling vine-like species, kiekie, and this is where you have to measure trees and plants.

Travel on Mt Taranaki is not easy: We approached by descending creek draining North form Maude Peak. This method is rather strenuous at first, as the shrub is rather dense. Travel in the creek bed and sidling large drops is OK until a very large waterfall (20 m +) is found. Slightly upstream from here we were able to climb out of the creek on the true left bank and climb over to the plot location on the other side of the ridge.

And: Plot lies between two small streams both of which are in steep sided (6 m deep) gullies. This what was reported in 1977. Due to the rapid erosion of the scoria cone these small streams are no doubt even deeper these days then back then. Or another example: From markers on river edge take a bearing of 250º magnetic and note a large rimu (Dacrydium cupressinum) on the cliff top. Climb cliff by any way practicable and proceed back to above rimu. I hope to be able to find some of these plots over the next few years. It is not going to be an easy task because most of the plots haven't been surveyed since 1979 and lots has changed on the mountain since then.

As this description of the position of an exclosure plot shows: About 3/4 mile to a mile up from the Park Boundary on the left hand side of Dray track going up towards the hut. [Note the hut was then called Dray hut, later renamed Waipuku hut, no longer exists as it burned down. The Dray track is now known as York track. The Dray is a geographical feature, a prominent rock formation that, when covered with snow, looks just like a set of wagon (dray) wheels. The hut used to be just below this dray. Also, note that the orientation of the plot relative to the track has changed between 1968 and 1986, not sure why yet, maybe the track changed route.]

The terrain isn't the only problem: Sandflies [flying stinging insects] by the 1000’s. Or: Groundcover is Uncinia grasses Hook grasses, the seeds of which attach themselves rather painfully to the hairs on your legs. Or: Abandoned chain square plot because of density of scrub. In other words - too many seedlings and small trees to measure, and I've got to get to a hut sometime today, or I'll freeze my but off, even in the middle of summer. And another vine, but this one is related to blackberry and has heaps of little hooks on it: Bush still much the same however bush lawyer Rubus schmidelioides is becoming somewhat more noticeable. [In fact the stuff keeps hooking on to my clothes, and preventing progress].

Access is difficult too, and the exclosure plots were not serviced as often as needed.

1973 -The fence consists of four rows of 12 gauge high tensile wire covered with 3’6" high 2" chain mesh. Trees and 8’ tantalized posts are used for posts. Forty battens have been attached at 3’ intervals. Further battens are required to complete the plot (approx. 40).
No vegetation sampling plots have been established yet inside or outside the exclosure. Deferred until November 1973.

1974 - Construction not yet completed. Approximately 40 battens are required and steel pins to hold the chain mesh to the ground. This material will be flown in with the 1974/75 supply drop.
No vegetation sampling plots have been established yet. This will be done in conjunction with the completion of the plot.

I'm not sure that the plot ever was finished completely because nothing much happened to the exclosures from 1974 to 1986, and I have no descriptions of the plot in 1986. Still more boxes to root through though, so I might find the answer yet.

Some of the descriptions document the destruction of the forest by possums, goats or stock (effective fencing on the large boundary with surrounding farms took a while): Plot is in an area that has obviously been kamahi (Weimannia racemosa) forest at one time, a few old skeletons remain. The main canopy is now only 6 metres tall [death and destruction due to possum damage]. And: Animal populations [goat and possum] probably low due to the lack of food but high enough to prevent regeneration. Possums causing some damage to kamahi.

Or: [This exclosure] illustrates the effect trespassing stock are having on this particular area. There are very few, if any goats in this area and all browsing and trampling is attributable to stock. In my diary entry on Whanganui River I mentioned that the forest is collapsing. I'm not kidding about that, note the following description of one of the exclosure plots in 1974 - This plot is situated in the Upson/Pyramid dead area. I'll tell you more about collapsed forests in the next entry on the Ruahines.

Scientific wording abounds: Note that the gut in the middle of the plot makes tagging [attaching numbered markers] at breast height sometimes difficult - basal area [total area covered by tree trunks] should be regarded with some degree of non-confidence.!!!

I enjoy compiling this sort of information into one document so that I and others can get a better overview of what has happened up on that amazing mountain, Taranaki. Hope that you enjoyed it too.

Some of my informtation sources or more detailed information can be found on the following pages.