Polynesian Deforestation of New Zealand: A Preliminary Synthesis

By the time of European settlement a large proportion of the lowland area of New Zealand was without forest (Fig. Id). That this was not a natural state was readily apparent in the North Island where the first European explorers of the coastline noted that the indigenous population was actively engaged in firing of the vegetation. It was not as immediately clear that the great tussock-clad plains of the eastern South Island were fire induced. But with the discovery of subfossil wood lying on the ground amidst the tussock, and windthrow mounds which indicated the sites of long vanished trees, it was quickly appreciated that forest had once covered these plains also (Munro 1868; Buchanan 1868).