by Shawn Forno

Created on: March 11, 2010

The drive down the 12 highway, a branch of the Twin Discovery Highway in Northland, New Zealand, leads through Waipoua Forest. This ancient kauri forest is an obstacle to some motorists with its steep roads and winding corners, but to most it's home to New Zealand’s most famous tree – Tane Mahuta, the largest standing kauri tree in the world.

At over 167 feet tall and 45 feet around, this massive tree towers above the other large kauri trees that surround it, but it’s not just Tane’s height that makes it so dominant.  A look up the 58 foot trunk shows the lower branches which are so massive that they provide a raised platform for other plants, like ferns, to grow on. This gives the tree a strange shaggy majesty as not only its own leaves, but those of other plants sprout from its life giving branches. It’s a palpable presence in the forest, and would stand out regardless of the sign located at its roots.

In Maori, Tane Mahuta means “Lord of the Forest” and he has a central role in Maori mythology. He is the son of the sky god Ranginui and the earth goddess Papatuanuku and he’s credited with pushing these two primal beings apart with the strength of his legs – his trunk – to create the air and space where all living things dwell.

The tree’s age is difficult to assess without harming it, but botanists estimate that it is at least fifteen hundred years old with some speculations ranging up to twenty-five hundred years old, meaning that this living tree could predate the life of Christ. Regardless of the older ages ascribed to it, Tane Mahuta certainly predates even the earliest evidence of Maori settlement on the islands of New Zealand.

Kauri trees of Tane’s size are rare due to several factors. The first is that they are slow to gain their massive height, meaning that many seedlings are overshadowed by taller trees in their infancy. It takes a special blend of open space and a lack of detritus along the forest floor for a kauri to reach the important early height it needs to grow for the rest of its life.

The second reason is the extensive logging of the kauri forests in Northland that occurred during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These trees were logged near to extinction due to the massive amount of quality wood that each yielded before environmental laws placed them under strict protection.

A third reason is that the subtropical forest environment in which these trees grow is deteriorating. They used to cover much of Northland above Auckland but a series of climate changing events, including a massive meteor strike 20,000 years ago, obliterated much of the lush wet environment these giants need to thrive.

The final reason is that surprisingly the root systems of these giants are actually shallowly buried, making them particularly susceptible to damage from pressure on the soil - i.e. people walking on them, and cars driving on them. Many kauri were killed by unaware trampers hiking through the forest for a closer look before special walkways and paths were built to protect the trees.

Regardless of how he’s viewed – ancient tree, Maori God, embodiment of nature's strength – this modern day living fossil is a stark reminder of the raw power and irresistible durability of life. While standing beneath the towering branches of this primordial force of the forest it’s hard not to speculate on the mere moment that mankind has populated the forests of the world.

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