Pastoral High-Country South Island, New Zealand: The Second Century

Abstract

Pastoral High-Country South Island, New Zealand: The Second Century Howard J. Critchfield* The high-country grasslands of New Zealand's South Island have been settled for barely a century. In the early decades of their occupation the main product, Merino wool, dominated the export trade of New Zealand. The region soon began to fall behind lowland areas in its relative contribution to the national economy. The benefits of intensive grassland farming methods, refrigerated shipping, and other technological innovations were not readily extended into the high country. Deterioration of the natural grasslands caused a decline in net production and created problems not only for pastoralism but also for flood control and hydroelectric developments in the South Island. At the beginning of its second century under European land use the region is striving to regain economic importance as a producer of wool, store sheep, and cattle and to achieve a more stable balance among its natural and cultural elements. *£> ' The Setting The pastoral high country extends nearly the full length of the South Island for more than 400 miles from the rim of the Wairau Valley in Marlborough to Lake Manapouri in Southland. It lies be- * Article is based on a paper read at the Symposium on Settlement of Highland Areas, 20th International Geographical Congress, Tarradale, Scodand, 1964. Dr. Critchfield is Professor of Geography and Chairman, Department of Geography, Western Washington State College, Bellingham 98225. Research by Dr. Critchfield on the South Island High Country in 1959 and in 1966 was supported by a travel grant from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and the Bureau of Faculty Research, Western Washington State College. 51 52association of pacific coast geographers tween the divide of the Southern Alps on the northwest and approximately the 1000-foot contour on the southeast, varying in width from 40 miles in Canterbury to 100 miles in Otago (Figure 1). Areal limits of the high country have been variously delineated in terms of altitude, relief, vegetation, land use, land tenure, and size of pastoral runs. As a result, estimates of the area of the region range from 8 million to 20 million acres. The limits chosen here are essentially those of the region wherein extensive pastoralism depends upon natural grassland, scrub, and alpine associations. This pastoral high country comprises about 12 million acres (4,860,000 hectares) or about one-third of the South Island. The dominant characteristic of high-country land forms is rugged relief, ranging from cirques, hanging valleys, and other alpine features at the highest elevations, throughrange and basinphysiography , to steep foothills and terraced valleys that merge into the lowlands. A series of parallel streams drain the region southeastward. Although their valleys are the natural access routes, the numerous gorges, braided channels, and unstable terrace gravels accentuate the difficulties of road and bridge construction. Several valleys were dammed by glacial moraines in the upper reaches to form large lakes which afford natural storage for hydroelectric developments at gorge sites.1 In Otago the country rock is mainly schist, and faulting has been widespread, producing block mountains and adjacent grabens. To the north greywackes are predominant. When exposed to frost action and running water, these rocks readily erode. In Canterbury greywacke shingle carried from the high country has accumulated to depths of several thousand feet to form the Canterbury Plains. Except for gold mining, which reached its peak in the nineteenth century in Central Otago, the high country has not been significant for mineral production. Rainfall ranges from less than 20 inches annually at the lower elevations, especially in protected basins and on certain lee slopes, to more than 80 inches in the headwaters of main rivers. Annual precipitation exceeds potential évapotranspiration over much of the 1 Bryan H. Farrell, Power in New Zealand, (Wellington: A. H. and A. W. Reed, 1962), pp. 93-94. VOLUME 31 1 YEARBOOK i 1969 53 Figure 1. Location of South Island High Country. NEW ZEALAND South Island High Country 200 Ml region, but on sunny exposures having low rainfall, summer conditions approach true aridity.2 A desiccating foehn, the "Nor'wester," considerably increases the water need at the lower elevations, where it is a critical climatic factor. Throughout the...