Thread: Any ex NZ forest service fellas here?

Got a query, I found a permolat marked track up a ridge recently.
On parts were a wide piece of red permolat and then for the next 20.metres or so every beech tree had a aluminum tag nailed to them with unique number on it. A multi leader editor tree would have one on each leader.
I would be interested to hear more about this study, not seen on before like this


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@Woody do you have knowledge on this topic?

It's a id tag on that tree.NZFS had permanent vegetation monitoring lines established in Native forests it managed.These lines are called transect lines and generally start in valley floors and run on a randomly generated compass bearing to the ridge/spur crest depending on the catchment topography.Each catchment had numerous transects in order to gain a statistically valid data base.Used for measuring many forest health perameters such as tree girth growth,mortality,animal density,Regen density,poison drops,etc etc .The (first)permalat marker in the valley floor has the transect id # and compass bearing for the bod to follow on,often with successive permalat markers @ 50 metre intervals on that bearing where each data point is taken.Measurements were taken every 5 years to gain long term trends for forest management.The ally id tag is tacked on @ brest height for the bod to measure & record what was called dbh _ diameter at brest height.These techniques still used in commercial exotic forests

In order to ensure data repeatability,some transects had the 50 mtr interval sites marked with permalat,and some didnt.Instead in the absence of intermediate markers the bod would strap on his waist a 'hipsometer' playing out a thin biodegradable cotton line with a distance recorder. So you would stop @ the 50 mtr interval once the counter got to 50,100,150 etc,etc . how many greying hunters remember encountering cotton lines during their stalks?They usually took a few months to break down.

Yeah, always wondered why someone was losing cotton thread in the middle of nowhere

Surely those ally markers don't date back to the NZFS days? They would be buried inches deep in the tree growth since the good ol (real!) NZFS died in 1987.

Permanent ecosurvey transect id tags.

Thanks Bluebaiter, very interesting. Alot of the trees were still Calf thickness. A few had grown and nearly swallowed the tag fully.
I can't imagine DOC keeps this research going

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The tags and transects were established back to the 60's and 70's.I don't imagine DOC carried on with this long term monitoring.The ally tags were fixed to the trees with a long shank clout leaving travel allowing for incremental growth without the bark swallowing it.Fifty years hence the growth has finally caught up despite most forest trees slow growth rates.I suppose the intention was to re set the clout once it got close to engulfing to go another 50 yrs. I reckon as a bush stalker you would naturally follow animal leads & folds,contours etc on your beats ,avoiding wingfall, shyte ,giggy gig,lawyer,supplejack groves,bluffs,ravines,leather leaf,waterfalls.Thing was when doing transects you were obliged to follow the compass needle no matter what.At times I reckon no Moriori,Maori,or Pakeha would ever have set foot on where the needle sent you,cause no sane person would ever want to go that way!

Ha ha, yeah. We were instructed to run transects .inimum of 20chain and if ridge was reached before 20chain then to continue over the top and down other side. Got bluffed a few times.

Ive seen a few of them over the years,the other thing you can still find in random places is a room sized fenced enclosure.....first time I thought it was someones hooch garden.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Ive seen a few of them over the years,the other thing you can still find in random places is a room sized fenced enclosure.....first time I thought it was someones hooch garden.

Yeah, the real term is "exclosure"..designed to keep grazing animals out so the growth outside could be compared with the growth inside.

Originally Posted by Woody

Ha ha, yeah. We were instructed to run transects .inimum of 20chain and if ridge was reached before 20chain then to continue over the top and down other side. Got bluffed a few times.

I wonder what the health and safety rules would be for that practice these days?

I thought I was following a deer trail ip.the ridge but I suspect it was created by old nzfs rangers back in the day!

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You survived or you got transferred out. There was leave allowed for recovery from injuries though. I saw a chap climb a very steep slip one time to recover a deer he had shot. However when he pulled its head back to cut its throat it reared and the pair bounced down to the bottom. He was off work for a while after that but came back.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Ive seen a few of them over the years,the other thing you can still find in random places is a room sized fenced enclosure.....first time I thought it was someones hooch garden.

Haha, yeah, found one of them up the horomunga years ago and stopped in my tracks thinking I'd walked upon a grow site.