History
Historically about 60% of the Wellington region was covered with broadleaf forest. Karaka, kohekohe, ngaio and nikau trees were common but there were also rata, rewarewa and tawa with occasional podocarps like kahikatea and rimu. The whole sanctuary valley was covered with this sort of forest until European settlement of the area and the large fires in 1850 and 1860 that cleared the land to be used for farming. The lower reservoir, retained by an earth dam, was completed in 1878. Parts of the area continued to be farmed up until 1906 when the remaining catchment was purchased for the water works. The upper reservoir, retained by a concrete gravity arch dam, was completed in 1908. From this point, as the whole valley was a protected water catchment area for Wellington city, the slopes were revegetated with introduced trees and the native forest also began regenerating. The upper dam was decommissioned as a reservoir about 1991, the lower one in 1997.
The "Natural Wellington" project identified the reservoir catchment as having special significance because it is a large self-contained habitat suitable for a wide variety of native plants and animals. In 1993 a feasibility study was carried out by the Wellington regional and city councils and after public consultation in 1994 the idea of a sanctuary was given the go-ahead. The Karori Wildlife Sanctuary Trust was formed in mid 1995 to implement the proposed 'mainland island' wildlife sanctuary.
Read more about this topic: Zealandia (wildlife Sanctuary)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Those who weep for the happy periods which they encounter in history acknowledge what they want; not the alleviation but the silencing of misery.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“The awareness that health is dependent upon habits that we control makes us the first generation in history that to a large extent determines its own destiny.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)