Book Review:- “Kahurangi” by Dave Hansford, published by Potion and Burton, price $79.99. Reviewed by Tony Orman
At the top of the South Island, there is a huge wilderness area comprising the Kahurangi National Park (and adjoining wilderness areas) stretching from the West Coast’s northern coastline to overlooking the Motueka River and south to overlooking the Buller River.
Author is Nelson writer Dave Hansford who has written articles for magazines “NZ Geographic” and “Forest and Bird” and in 2016 published his first book “Protecting Paradise”, in which he championed the eco-poison 1080.
He is therefore a seasoned writer and a seasoned tramper of the Kahurangi wilderness and therefore well qualified to tackle a project like a 214 page book on the national park plus, liberally illustrated with photographs, many which are excellent to stunning.
The book is sub-titled “The nature of Kahurangi National Park and Northwest Nelson” and explores the bio-diversity of the area.
The author has a deep attachment to the area.
“What I love about northwest Nelson is the way it’s helped me grasp how Aotearoa came to be. The story of those basement rocks – nothing but sandy seabed 500 million years and 4000 kilometres ago – ending up here beneath my feet – knowing that story has changed the way I relate to the land,” he writes.
The author writes at length of “Maoritanga” which considers people and nature inseparable, which reminds me of a former MP and government minister Doug Graham who once said “Maori had spiritual feelings for lakes and mountains and rivers that Pakeha people neither shared nor understood.” I think Doug Graham was greatly in error for anyone irrespective of ethnicity, may be capable of “spiritual feelings” about Nature.
So for some readers, some opinions may not find agreement.
The author provocatively covers national pest strategies such as ”Pest Free 2050” and is critical of those who question them.
“It’s incontrovertible; in the absence off pest control, rock wrens vanish, yet they’re just one more threatened species caught up in a culture war between empirical evidence and belief-driven zealotry”.
His pro-pest strategy belief tends to dominate many of the chapters.
The author is in essence a committed crusader for the environment and has written about Nature for more than 25 years impelled by a belief that once people are reminded of how precious, how remarkable something is, they’ll step up to protect it. But he fears that the free market advocates, i.e. economists will win the day.
“Still the evangelists preach limitless growth—but we look today at a belching smokestack, an oil rig—and we see not prosperity but our own mortality — eventually we will understand that this ritual abuse of Nature is in fact self harm.”
It’s a handsome book and particularly if you know have tramped, fished or hunted the area, you should find it interesting.
