REGENERATION OF NATIVE FOREST ON HINEWAI RESERVE, BANKS PENINSULA

One thousand hectares in the south-east sector of Banks Peninsula are being managed for the protection and restoration of native vegetation and wildlife under a policy of minimum interference. The probable pre- human vegetation cover (1000 yr B.P.), inferred from current evidence and some historical records, was continuous forest, c. 55% of it podoc arp/hardwood forest and 45% Nothofagus forest. About 4% of this old-gr owth forest survives. The remaining area is a diverse mosaic of succes sional vegetation. Approximately 30% of the total area is closed-canop y second-growth native forest. About 53% is under scrub of naturalised gorse (Ulex europaeus) and broom (Cytisus scoparius). The remaining 1 3% is under pasture, fernland, and native tussockland. The predicted c over 50 years hence, assuming that fire can be excluded, is 95% second -growth native forest, 4% old-growth forest, and 1% tussock, shrubland , and scrub which will persist on bluffs. Successional pathways are di verse, involving both native and naturalised species. Monitoring of ve getational change to test predicted pathways and patterns began in Oct ober 1987. To date, observations show that in the absence of grazing a nimals and fire, regeneration of native forest is rapid, especially th rough gorse and broom scrub, and by the vigorous establishment of nati ve seral hardwoods, especially kanuka (Kunzea ericoides).