Waipoua Forest

Waipoua Forest preserves some of the best examples of kauri forest remaining in New Zealand. It is notable for having two of the largest living kauri trees, Tane Mahuta and Te Matua Ngahere. The forest was declared a sanctuary in 1952. A community based volunteer organisation, the Waipoua Forest Trust, helps maintain the forest.LocationThe forest, on the west coast of the Northland Region, is associated with the neighbouring Waima and Mataraua Forests. The forest sanctuary is bordered to the south by the 350ha Professor W.R McGregor Reserve, named after W. R. McGregor (1894–1977). In the 1940s, McGregor successfully campaigned to end logging of the forest and to have it declared a sanctuary, a status it achieved in 1952.EcologyThe Waipoua, Warawara and Puketi forests together contain about three quarters of New Zealand's remaining mature kauri trees. The Waipoua forest holds the largest remaining stand of these trees. It contains Te Matua Ngahere, a notable kauri tree that is the largest in New Zealand by girth and the second largest by volume, and is estimated to be from 2,000 to 3,000 years old. The trees are threatened by the fungus Phytophthora taxon Agathis. The Waipoua Forest Trust has called for urgent action by the government to find a cure for the problem. The forest has the largest population of North Island brown kiwi in Northland. Populations of the endangered North Island kōkako can be found in the high plateau country.