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Story: Fire and agriculture

Castle Hill Station, 2005

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Castle Hill Station, 2005

Geographer D. H. Ralph took this photograph in 2005, standing where the 1882 photograph had been taken so he could gauge the impact of European settlement on high-country vegetation. He concluded that there had been little change in vegetation cover on the Craigieburn Range, and erosion had not increased. On the lower slopes woody shrubs, in particular matagouri and coprosma species, have reappeared as burning became less frequent.

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Private collection

by David H. Relph

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How to cite this page

Robert Peden, Fire and agriculture – Burning and erosion, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/17295/castle-hill-station-2005 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Robert Peden, published 1 March 2009.